Heir to the World
by A Scary Man
Summary: Sequel to The Friend that was Lost: Neil, Chloe and Chris return home to Edinburgh to find the boy who may become the most powerful mutant ever.
1. Introduction

A/N: This story follows on from 'Through a Child's Eyes' and 'The Friend that was Lost'. It's pretty much essential to read both of those first.

A/N: This story will probably contain X2 spoilers.

A/N: Usual format, i.e. the prologue will be written in 3rd person, and the main story will be in 1st person, from the POV of Neil Rosicky

Introduction to four main characters:

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OCULUS

Real name: Neil Rosiçky

Age: 17

Mutant abilities: Telescopic eyesight; X-ray vision; telepathy; telekinesis; berserk attack; healing ability.

History: Born an ordinary human, the only child of Davor and Anna Rosiçky. Neil's mother died in childbirth and his geneticist father cruelly used him as part of a mutation implant experiment. As a result of this, Neil possesses multiple gifts, and his power grows with each passing day. Also possessing leadership abilities, he was called upon to lead the X-Men for a brief period. A firm believer in thinking before acting, Neil is a patient and reasonable man. Despite being a member of the X-Men, he has a strong relationship with Magneto, based on mutual respect. Both have saved the other's life on occasion, and Neil has been tempted more than once to join Magneto's cause. Destined to become the most powerful mutant on Earth, Neil's real wish is to settle down with his true love Gaia, and start a family.

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GAIA

Real name: Chloe Scott

Age: 16

Mutant abilities: Communication with and control of animals.

History: Beginning life as a frightened child who was uncertain of herself and her mutant powers, Chloe was protected from the world's bigotry by her parents, and even now is still cautious and careful in all she does. Chloe will never fight if there is another alternative, and detests all forms of violence. She joined the X-Men with the goal of preserving peace and freedom, and bears no hatred or malice towards the human race. Happiest when surrounded by nature, Chloe will use animals as weapons, but only as a last resort. Despite her cautious nature, she does not lack courage, and often berates Oculus for his overprotectiveness of her. Chloe cares deeply about her friends, and is always prepared to go out of her way to try and make them feel better.

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SHAPESHIFTER

Real name: Chris Garcia

Age: 16

Mutant abilities: Changing entire body from solid to liquid, and vice versa; immune to temperature change.

History: Wiser and more cynical than his sixteen years might suggest, Chris has seen it all – or so he would have you believe. Never lacking confidence in his own ability, his bravery and motivational abilities are an invaluable asset to the group. Even in the face of death he will bring out a wisecrack of some kind, but this doesn't mean he does not take things seriously when necessary. Ironically, although he is used to always knowing exactly what to say in any situation, Chris is notoriously tongue-tied when discussing matters of the heart. The love affair between himself and Shock is his main interest, though it's unclear whether they spend more time courting or getting on each other's nerves.

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SHOCK

Real name: Felicity (Fliss) Arkwright

Age: 15

Mutant abilities: Can generate and fire bolts of lightning; immune to electricity.

History: Forced to flee from her hometown to escape anti-mutant hatred, Fliss was rescued from Magneto's clutches by the three who would become her closest friends. Young and naïve, she has a strong sense of rights and justice, and refuses to surrender to anyone on issues about which she feels strongly enough. Used to having others alongside to protect her, Fliss has no real experience of looking after herself. As curious and fun-loving as any mid-teen, she never passes up an opportunity to learn more about herself, her powers, or her friends. Still a child in many ways, Felicity cannot understand the hatred humans have for mutants, and is determined to bring about peace.


	2. Prologue part I

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HEIR TO THE WORLD

Prologue:

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AUGUST 2003

There were four of them, all mutants, in their teens, dressed in black, standing in a loose square formation, ten feet or so apart from one another. At the centre of the square, bruised and bleeding, kneeling half-conscious, was a human. The oldest of the four mutants walked across to stand over the man, sneering down at him.

"The names, Father," he said. "Give us the names."

"The…names?" the old man repeated, his mind lost in a turmoil of confusion and pain.

The young man knelt down to face him, and hissed viciously, "The names of the men you worked with! There were three of you, I know there were! I know you were conducting research into mutant genetics together! You made me what I am! Now _give_ me their names!"

This last demand was accompanied by a sharp backhand across the human's face, knocking the old man to the floor.

"Rosiçky…" he mumbled.

"What was that?" the mutant demanded.

He grabbed his father by the shoulders and yanked him back on to his knees, "What did you say?"

"Rosiçky…Van Gaarde…"

"Rosiçky and Van Gaarde – those were the two men you worked with?"

No response.

"Father! Were those the two men?"

"Yes…"

The young man smiled, but it was not a smile of joy. His face resembled that of a shark, and he stood once more, to face the other three mutants, "All right, we've got the information we need. Ocelot, I want you to find these two men: Van Gaarde and the other one, Rosiçky. Nightshade, if you could get rid of _that_."

He gestured to the human, who was still moaning in pain, cowering at his feet. The old man looked up in terror at his son's words, and trembled, "Don't kill me! I can give you more information!"

"Such as?"

"Rosiçky had a son! He was given the mutation implant treatment, the same as you!"

The young man slowly looked down at his father, and a smirk crossed his face, "Really. That _is_ interesting. What do you know about the son?"

"He is the same age as you – you were born on the same day."

"Where can I find him?"

The old man's brief moment of lucidity seemed to have passed, as abruptly as it had begun, and he mumbled incoherently, "You can identify him…by his eyes…"

"His eyes? What about his eyes?"

His father appeared to be drifting in and out of consciousness, and the boy kneeled down once before, grabbing the old man by the shoulders and fixing him with a piercing stare, "Tell me! What is it about his eyes?"

"They're gold…the pupils are gold…"

"His pupils are gold. All right – can you tell me anything else?"

"No…I don't know anything else…"

"Then you're of no further use to me!"

He threw the man aside, and straightened again. The other mutants in the room remained silent, waiting for him to speak.

"This makes things more difficult," he said. "If this man Rosiçky did have a son, who was given mutation therapy similar to my own, he will be a threat to me. I want him killed. Nightshade?"

The mutant nearest him, the only female in the room, closed her eyes briefly, then nodded, "I'll take care of it."

"Good. Ocelot, your orders are unchanged. Impervious, you will remain here with me. Nightshade, dispose of my father. We don't need him any more."

The girl walked across the room towards the slumped figure of the human, her feet brushing the floor as silently as an autumn breeze. She stopped and crouched beside the old man. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and she extended her right hand, holding it steady just between the man's shoulder blades. Her index finger began to change, narrowing and elongating, as it transformed into a needle-sharp blade. She stabbed it into the man's back, and he cried out as the point slid home. Poison began to flow from the tip of her mutated finger into his bloodstream. He struggled for a moment, then the poison got to work, and his movements began weak and sluggish. He convulsed, then fell back against her, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, his mouth open in a silent scream. She retracted her blade, and it changed back into an ordinary finger once more.

The oldest mutant watched dispassionately as his father was murdered and carried out of the room. He had no love for the man. His father had never loved him either. If he had, he wouldn't have used him in his genetic experiments. The boy laughed to himself as he thought about it. In a way, he hated his father for what he had done. At the same time, he was delighted it had happened, since he had been given mutant power of such magnitude that he could do anything he wanted, and no-one on Earth could possibly stop him.

Except one. Rosiçky's son had to be killed.


	3. Prologue part II

A/N: In response to a review from CalmSerene in the last story, regarding Jacqueline. I have nothing against her and I was sad when she died. I almost changed the ending to bring her back, but I decided against it. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for the review and please keep them coming! 

Prologue (continued)

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SEPTEMBER 2003

There were four of them, all mutants, in their teens, dressed in ordinary casual clothes, standing in a rough line in front of the mahogany desk. Each of them was listening attentively to the old man sitting behind it.

"Neil," Professor Charles Xavier was saying. "I told you during the summer that there was only one other mutant in the world who was like you, who could reach the same level of power that you yourself will achieve. I have not as yet told you anything about him, but I believe that time is now. I have agreed to your wish to let your friends hear about this as well."

Neil Rosiçky nodded, "Thank you, sir."

"I'm afraid there isn't a lot I can tell you," said Xavier. "I've been using Cerebro to try to find out more about him, but that cannot tell me everything. My power is not what it once was. What I do know is that he is a mutant of immense power, but one that was not born with it. Like you, he must have been subjected to mutation implants as a baby. Probing his thoughts has proved extremely difficult – for the moment I don't know why – so I haven't been able to tell much about him as a person. He may not even know he is a mutant."

"Do you know his name?" asked Chloe Scott, her hand tightening slightly around Neil's.

"His name is Constantine Matthews. Neil, it may or may not be a coincidence that the man who used to work alongside your father was also called Matthews."

"One of my father's fellow geneticists, you mean?"

"That's right. Matthews, Van Gaarde and your father were the three who first devised mutation implant treatment. As far as I know, you and his son Constantine are the only two of their experimental subjects who are still alive."

A frown crossed the face of Felicity Arkwright, "So who's more powerful, Neil or this Constantine guy?"

"I don't know," said Xavier. "I can't tell exactly what powers Constantine has. Besides, the true level of their power will not be known until they are at least 18."

"How old is he?" Neil asked.

"The same as you. In fact, you were born on exactly the same day."

"What are you going to do about Constantine?" Chris Garcia asked.

Xavier sat in thought for a moment, then said, "I would like the four of you to try and get in touch with him. It's imperative that we contact him before Magneto or anybody else finds out his true potential."

"Why us?" said Chloe.

"Because Constantine will be most likely to listen to people his own age. Also because he lives very close to where three of you used to live in Edinburgh. And lastly because I am considering making the four of you full members of the X-Men, despite the fact that none of you is yet 18 years of age."

He watched as the four teenagers exchanged glances; Neil and Chloe drew slightly closer together; Felicity flashed an excited grin at an intrigued-looking Chris.

"So this is a test?" Chris asked.

"You could see it that way. Being an X-Man is not just about being able to fight for freedom and strive for peace. It's also about teaching others to believe in the same things. If you four can convince Constantine of our beliefs, and ensure that he does not fall into darkness – and I'm confident you can – then I will know you are ready."

When they had left the office, Xavier sat and reflected for several moments. Had he made the right decision? Were the four of them ready to act alone? He knew they were all powerful, and had all had plenty of experience using their gifts. Hopefully this mission wouldn't require anything other than meeting up with Constantine and talking to him, but still the Professor didn't want to take any chances. He knew that Neil, with his multiple powers, was virtually invincible, as he had proved numerous times in the past, and with the others alongside him there was little they should be afraid of.

But Neil had a weakness, a terrible fragility, that he himself knew nothing about. If that weakness were exploited, Xavier knew that it might unleash a sequence of events that could destroy everything he had ever worked for. It was a risk that the Professor was taking, trusting that Neil would not let his weakness get the better of him. It wasn't the first risk he had taken with this boy; after all, he had trusted Neil not to use his powers to his own advantage and to the world's detriment, without knowing what kind of person he was. That risk had proved to be the right decision, since Neil had agreed with Xavier's beliefs and had joined the X-Men to help promote peace. The Professor hoped desperately that taking this second risk would also turn out to be the right choice. For if he was wrong, and Neil gave in to his weakness, it could be the end of the world as they knew it, and nobody would be able to do a thing about it.


	4. Going Home

From now on the story is narrated in 1st person by Neil.

Chapter One: Going Home

There were four of them, humans, heavily muscled, wearing cheap sports clothing, smoking cigarettes, and not blessed with any great intelligence. They were what us Scots referred to as 'neds'. They had been following us for the last several minutes, staying fifty or so yards behind us, clearly confident that we would not realise they were there. Unfortunately for them, they did not realise they were following the world's second most powerful telepath. I had sensed them and their intentions almost instantly, and I decided to find out what they were planning. Subtly probing their minds, I saw what they wanted. They had decided we looked both rich and helpless, and thus easy targets for a quick mugging. 

It was when we turned into a narrow side street on our way home, that they made their move. I sensed them walking faster, getting closer, then one of them called, "Hey!"

We turned. I sensed the emotions emanating from my friends. Chris, who had grown up in the Edinburgh slums, was used to scenes like this, and was unworried. Fliss was nervous, still uncomfortable in a country that was new and foreign to her. Chloe, who had a natural aversion to fighting and violence, was unhappy at the prospect of confrontation, but she wasn't frightened. The four neds were approaching us, smug grins printed on their faces.

"You're not from around here, are you?" the lead one said.

"No," I said.

A quick glance at the street surrounding us told me all I needed to know. There was nobody else in sight, save for a couple of mangy dogs sniffing at the contents of a dustbin, thus no witnesses to whatever might happen next.

"Where you from?" the guy demanded.

"I think that's our business."

"You trying to be smart?" he leered, opening his hand to reveal a switchblade knife.

"What do you want?" said Fliss nervously.

The guy stared at her, "A bloody Yank! I hate bloody Yanks!"

He grabbed Felicity by the wrist and snapped, "I hate little American rich bitches like you! The rest of you, give us your money and we might not have to cut this one!"

They were expecting us to be afraid of them, and to hand over our money to stop them from hurting her. It wasn't going to happen.

"You guys have seriously picked the wrong target this time," said Chris, his anger rising at the way Fliss was being treated. "You _really_ don't want to make us mad."

"Whatever, rich boy, just give us the money. Or maybe we'll take what we want out of her," the ned sneered, pulling Fliss close to him, his free hand encircling her waist, fondling her backside.

This was too much for Felicity, and she reacted angrily, using her power to send a small electric shock into the guy's body. He jerked, yelped, and was thrown on to his back, the knife clattering on to the pavement.

"Bitch!" he spat. "What the hell was that? Get them, you idiots!"

The other three guys were jolted into action, and headed straight for us, flick-knives appearing in their hands as if by magic. Chris grinned, and met one of them head-on, calling on his knowledge of martial arts to aid him. The other two guys, wary of Fliss, headed towards Chloe, seeing her as the easiest target.

"Help me!" Chloe cried.

For a moment I thought she was talking to me, and I raised my hand to use my power. Then I realised it wasn't me she was addressing, but the two moth-eaten Alsatian dogs I had seen earlier. They heard her call and responded instantly, running towards us, barking loudly, and leaping on to the backs of the two thugs.

"What the hell?" one of them shouted, fending off the enraged animal that was biting and snapping at him.

"Don't kill them!" Chloe said to the dogs. "Just scare them off!"

The dogs put themselves between the neds and Chloe, protecting her, growling angrily at them. I looked over to see how Chris was getting on. He'd disarmed his opponent, the knife now lying harmlessly off to one side, and was laughing as he easily dodged punches and kicks, toying with the guy.

The leader of the pack of thugs was back on his feet, his knife in hand once more, approaching Fliss, murder in his eyes. He was wise enough now to keep the knife out, preventing her from getting close enough to shock him again. I knew she had deliberately given him only a tiny jolt, not wishing to hurt him, only to get him away from her. I knew that was the reason why she didn't simply launch a bolt of lightning at him now, since any such airborne attack was difficult for her to control, and would probably kill him. We couldn't kill them. It wouldn't be right. I decided it was time to end the fight.

I raised one hand. The four thugs froze, unable to move, held in place by my telekinesis. Chris relaxed; Fliss breathed a sigh of relief; Chloe knelt down to pet the two dogs, thanking them for their help.

"What the _f**k_ is going on?!" the lead ned yelled, struggling to break out of my power's grasp.

"Shut up and listen to me," I said. "Understand one thing: I could kill you right now, just as easily as I'm holding you in place. I'm choosing not to."

"You're a bloody mutant!" he realised, his fear mushrooming inside him.

"Oh, well _done_," Chris said sarcastically. "What tipped you off?"

"Let me go!" the ned yelled, beginning to sound hysterical, his confidence eroding rapidly.

Fliss glared at him angrily, "Not so brave now, are you, pervert? Maybe this will teach you not to pick on people who are weaker than you are! They might turn out to be not so weak, mightn't they?"

I relaxed my power, and the four guys, caught by surprise, fell to the ground. Overtaken by fear, they scrambled to their feet and hurried away as fast as they could, not even stopping to recollect the knives they had dropped. Chris cracked his knuckles, a sound that made the rest of us wince, and said, "That went well."

Fliss was still angry, and she snapped, "What a creep! Did you see the way he tried to touch me? He probably thinks women are just sex objects!"

Chris put his arm round her and squeezed her gently, "Don't let it get you down. Some people are just scum."

"Are you all right?" I said to Chloe.

She nodded, "Yeah. They never actually got close enough to hurt me."

"We'd probably better get home," I said. "Word of this little incident will spread quickly, and we don't want an anti-mutant mob on our hands."

The others agreed, and we hurried the rest of the way home. It was the first time I had been back in my home city of Edinburgh since May, and it was good to have returned. As happy as I had been living in the X-mansion, the US was still a foreign country to me, and I was uncomfortable there. This had felt like coming home, and yet it hadn't. Life wasn't the same as it had been before, and it never would be. My grandparents, who had raised me from babyhood, were dead, killed in a traffic accident earlier in the month. Now I had no living relatives left. Jacqueline too was dead; one of our closest friends, who had been killed by military forces two months ago. The memories of these three people who I had loved would stay with me forever, even although they were gone.

As the only relative my grandparents had had, everything that they owned had been left to me. It was to their old house that we now headed, the house I had grown up in, the house that now belonged to me, where we would staying for the foreseeable future. It was just an ordinary house, and I had a certain fondness for it, having spent my childhood there. I could tell Fliss didn't like it, but out of respect for my grandparents, she wasn't saying anything.

The sun was just beginning to set when we got back there, and we were glad to get inside out of the cold.

"It's _freezing_," Fliss shivered, as she huddled against the radiator for some warmth.

"Welcome to Scotland," Chris grinned, ignoring the cold, immune as he was to temperature change.

Chloe headed upstairs, and I dumped on to the kitchen table the few items we had bought that day. As I watched Chloe making her way upstairs, a thought occurred to me. It was something that I had been deliberating over at length for the last few days. I had been struggling to come to a decision, but now I felt the time was right. I headed through to the front room. In the corner was a small wooden bureau, with one drawer which held trinkets and paraphernalia that were of family significance. I opened the drawer, and began rummaging inside. I knew it was in here somewhere. Yes – there it was. I slipped it into my pocket, and went upstairs to find Chloe.

She was in the bigger of the two bedrooms, where my grandparents had slept, the room she and I had claimed as our own, unpacking some of her clothes into the wardrobe and chest of drawers. I sat down on the edge of the double bed, fingering the object in my pocket, and tried to decide how I was going to say this. It was early evening now, and it was only that morning we had arrived from New York. This would be the first night we spent here, sleeping in a double bed together. I did not have a problem with that; Chloe and I were no longer in a platonic relationship, but it seemed the kind of thing a married couple should be doing, not teens like us. I didn't really know what to think. Our relationship wasn't exactly a normal one; how could it be when one of us was telepathic?

"Chloe?" I said, finally mustering the courage.

"Yeah?"

"I want to ask you two things."

"OK."

"First of all, would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I'd love to. Just us, or are Chris and Fliss coming too?"

"No, just us. The second thing – this isn't easy for me. Promise me you won't laugh."

"All right, I promise I won't laugh."

"OK. Will you marry me?"

Surprise and shock erupted inside her, and she had to grab hold of the wardrobe to steady herself. For a moment, one terrible moment, I thought she was going to reject me outright, but then her emotions settled slightly, and I knew it was happy surprise she was feeling. She was shocked, but pleasantly so. It was something she had wanted to hear.

"Of course I will," she said, giving me a delighted smile. "You knew all you had to do was ask."

I fumbled in my pocket, and pulled out the object I had taken from downstairs.

"What's that?" she said.

"It's my mother's engagement ring. My gran kept it. I'd like you to have it."

I walked around the bed towards Chloe, and took hold of her left hand, slipping the ring on to her unresisting fourth finger. She looked at me, then at the ring, enraptured, holding it up to the light to see the stone shining brightly.

"It's sapphire," I said.

"It's beautiful…"

"So are you."

Chloe smiled, and we drew together to kiss. Her elation and her excitement washed over me as our lips touched, and I knew I had never been so happy before as I was now. I couldn't believe we were engaged; I couldn't believe she had actually said yes. It was incredible to think I had first met Chloe only four months ago. Within a day we'd begun to admire one another; within a week we had shared our first kiss; within two months we had lost our virginity together; and now we were engaged to be married.

When we pulled apart at last, Chloe said, "So where are we going for dinner?"

"Well," I said. "If I had the money, I'd take you to the most expensive restaurant in the city to celebrate our engagement. Unfortunately, I don't. But there's a nice place just a couple of streets away."

"OK," she smiled. "Let's go."

It was an hour later, when we were at the restaurant eating our meal, that the enormity of it hit me. We were going to get married. The single greatest commitment that anyone could make, we had made to each other. I knew we would not regret it. I could never love another girl, or woman, as much as I loved Chloe. I knew we would be happy together. I knew we would never part. There might be difficult times, we might argue or fight, but I knew the love that had brought us together would always reign supreme, and would always keep us together.

"Neil?" Chloe said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"There's something I want to say, something I want to make clear."

"What is it?"

"I know we both want to have children, but I have to ask you: if we had a child, and it wasn't a mutant, if it was just an ordinary human – would you still love it?"

"Of course I would," I said. "I was born human myself, remember. What about you?"

"I would love any child we had, regardless of what they were," she said. "It wouldn't matter if it was human or mutant, or if it was disabled in any way, it would be our child, and I would love it. I…I just wanted to make sure you felt the same way."

"Don't worry," I told her. "I agree with everything you just said. I'll try to be as good a father as I possibly can, unlike my own."

Chloe sighed, then said, "I've hardly got in touch with my mum and dad since we first went to New York. I really feel as if I ought to go and visit them here in Edinburgh, while we're doing our job for the Professor."

"I won't stop you," I said. "I was planning to go and pay this Constantine character a visit tomorrow morning, but I'm sure we can work your parents in somewhere. Do they know about us?"

"Sort of," she said. "I've told them you're my boyfriend, but obviously they don't know about…about us having sex. And I definitely won't be telling them we're engaged – not right away, anyway."

"I've lost my entire family," I said. "I guess I'm just starting to find a new one."

Chloe smiled, and her gaze moved to her new engagement ring, which had just caught the light from the candle on our table. We fell silent and returned to eating our meal.

I felt like I was walking on air when we left the restaurant, holding each other's hand tightly, lost in love, both looking forward to the future we would share with each other, and imagining the children we might have. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. Chloe was my perfect girl, an irreplaceable part of my heart, and now we would be together forever. _Till death do us part_.

I was so wrapped up in thoughts of Chloe and my future with her, that I didn't sense the presence of the mutant coming up from behind me until it was too late. There was a sharp stabbing pain as a blade was thrust into my back, then it was retracted, and I fell forward on to my knees, crying out. The pain was overwhelming, and I was struggling to remain conscious, falling over on to my side. To make matters worse, my body sensed there had been poison on the blade, and it was infecting me even now. I couldn't identify what it was, but it was acting fast, and I would be dead within seconds. Chloe was on her knees beside me, holding my hand in hers, desperately asking what was wrong. I knew there was only one thing I could do.

Taking a deep breath and forcing myself to concentrate, I called upon my healing power. Spreading outwards from my heart, it began to surge through my bloodstream, cleansing me of the poison, repairing the stab wound in my back. My body mended, I felt my strength begin to return, and I struggled into a sitting position.

"Are you all right?" asked Chloe anxiously. "What happened?"

I shook my head to clear it, and then I remembered. That mutant. I got to my feet, Chloe helping me, and looked in the direction the attack had come from. Nobody in the milling crowd looked extraordinary or out of place. I couldn't sense the mutant's presence any longer. A few people had stopped to make sure I was OK, but had moved on when I got up looking apparently unharmed.

"What happened?" Chloe repeated.

"It was another mutant," I said. "A girl. She stabbed me."

"Stabbed you? But who? Nobody even knows we're here!"

"I don't know. She's fled; I can't sense her any more."

"Do you think Magneto sent her?"

I shook my head, "Magneto wouldn't try to kill me. We have an understanding."

"Then who? Hey, do you think it's got anything to do with this Constantine guy? Maybe somebody else has got to him first, and is trying to keep us away!"

"Maybe. But like you just said, nobody knows we're here, nobody except the Professor."

"I don't understand. What does this mean?"

"I don't really know either," I said. "All I know is that somebody is trying to kill us – or me, at any rate – and just now they almost succeeded."

"They obviously didn't know about your healing power."

"Yeah. We're going to have to be extremely careful from now on. We don't know who's out there, what they want, or why they've targeted us."

Then another thought struck me. I looked at Chloe and said, "If somebody was just sent to attack _us_ – what if somebody else was sent for Chris and Fliss?"

"Do you think they're in danger?" she gasped.

"We'd better hurry."

I led the way back to the house, keeping my senses active, pushing out to detect any mutants in the vicinity. There appeared to be none, other than my three friends. When we reached my home, I pushed open the front door, and looked around the hallway. No signs of an intrusion. I could sense the two of them on the upper floor. Hurrying up the stairs, I sensed Felicity in the room on the right. I opened the door to check she was all right, remembering too late that this was in fact the bathroom.

She was inside, lying in the bath, only her head protruding above the soapy bubbles. Her eyes were closed and for a moment I feared the worst. Then she opened her eyes, and I realised she was only luxuriating. Her eyes widened as she looked over at me. For a moment I thought she was going to be angry, but she was in a good mood, and I knew she wasn't about to shout at me.

"Can I help you?" she giggled mischievously, trying to cover up her embarrassment with a joke.

I felt myself blushing slightly, "Haven't you ever heard of locking the door?"

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" she retorted with a cheeky smile.

I sighed, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to check you were OK. You see, I was attacked while we were on our way home from dinner."

Her expression changed, and her mood became serious, "What happened?"

"I'll tell you in a minute; when you're finished in the bath."

"All right, I'm finished. I'm getting out. Hand me that towel over there. And don't look!"

I grabbed her towel and threw it over to land beside the bath.

"I said don't look!"

I averted my eyes and left the bathroom to find Chris. He was in the other bedroom, the one that had been mine when I had lived here as a child. Lying on one of the two beds, he appeared to be asleep, but opened one eye when he heard me came in.

"Hey," he said. "How was dinner?"

"Dinner was good. The trip home wasn't so nice."

"What happened? Someone run over your foot?"

"I was attacked. By a mutant. I don't know who it was."

He raised both eyebrows and a frown crossed his face as he repeated Fliss' question, "What happened?"

"I'll tell you when Fliss gets here."

Chloe had joined us by this time, and presently Felicity appeared, a towel wrapped around her, her long blonde hair still dripping water on to the floor.

"You said you were attacked," she prompted.

I nodded, "It was a mutant – a female – and she stabbed me. I don't know what with, but it was poisoned."

"Your healing power saved you?" Chris guessed. "What do you think it was, an assassin of some kind?"

"Probably. I guess I never thought about it before, but if I really am as powerful as the Professor thinks, it will make me a target for certain people."

"But who would want to kill you?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know. Maybe somebody who reckons I'm too powerful, and thinks I'm going to get in their way."

"Magneto," Felicity said instantly. "It has to be him. He waited until you were away from the mansion, away from the Professor, then he struck."

"No. Chloe said the same, but I know Magneto. He wouldn't do that."

"Can you be sure?" Chris asked dubiously.

"Yes. I've read his mind before, and I know his intentions. He still has hopes that I will join him one day, though I've told him it's never going to happen. He doesn't want to kill me, and he knows I don't want to kill him. We'll fight against each other when our interests conflict, but neither of us really wants to hurt the other."

"If only all our enemies were so friendly," Chris said sarcastically. "So who does that leave us with? Nobody."

"I think it has something to do with Constantine," I said. "Somebody else is interested in him, and they must have figured out why we're here. They don't want him to join us, so they tried to kill us."

"But why only kill you? Why not kill Chloe too if she was with you?"

"I don't know. She – the girl who stabbed me, not Chloe – ran away immediately, so it seems I was her only target. I couldn't sense her presence any more, so we couldn't go after her. We just came back here."

"And came upstairs to watch me taking my bath," said Fliss, the spark of mischief still in her eyes.

Both Chloe and Chris turned to stare at me; shock, disbelief and anger registering in their minds. I sighed. Sometimes I really wanted to throttle Felicity. Sometimes she was just too cheeky and playful for her own good.

"Don't be stupid," I said. "I thought someone might have gone after you too. I only came in to make sure you were OK."

She laughed, "Of course you did."

I glanced at Chloe. She knew I was telling the truth, and she gave me a little smile. Chris, however, was still fixing me with a suspicious glare, half-believing what Fliss was saying.

"Come on!" I said impatiently. "I can look through walls! If I wanted to ogle a girl, I could do it without her even knowing!"

"So you're sticking to that story," Felicity giggled, finding the whole thing extremely amusing.

Chris' anger was rising once more, and he half-stood, then seemed to think better of it. I knew he was devoted to Fliss, and any suggestion that I was trying anything with her would not make him very happy. I knew he was a little bit insecure, unsure whether or not she did actually like him. Felicity's playful nature made it difficult for her to genuinely express her feelings, and Chris must be wondering whether or not she was just playing a joke on him. Reading her mind also, I knew that was not the case. I knew she loved him as much as he loved her. Chris needed somebody who could share his adventurous, humorous outlook on life, and Fliss needed somebody who could put up with her. They were perfect for each other.

Before I could say anything on the subject, Felicity was ushering me towards the door, still laughing, "All right, I'm going to get changed for bed now! Chloe, Neil, out! You've seen enough of me today already!"

I sensed fury rising in Chris again. He was on his feet and heading towards me, before Fliss closed the door between us. I heard her giggling hysterically on the other side, probably trying to calm down Chris before he stormed out of the room and threw a punch at me.

"What is she _like_?" said Chloe, shaking her head. "I was never like that when I was fifteen! Was I?"

"No. I wish I could laugh too, but I'm just thinking about what happened tonight."

"Me too. Are you scared?"

"Scared? Somebody with mutant powers is trying to kill me, and I don't know why," I said. "Of course I'm scared. You?"

"Yeah. For your safety more than anything else. And the thought of losing you. I couldn't live without you."

"I couldn't live without you either, fiancée."

A smile lit up her face, "Hey, do you know what? I'd forgotten about that. In all the excitement, I'd forgotten we were engaged."

"I hadn't."

In the years to come, we could never remember which of us had made the first move that night, but suddenly we were in each other arms and kissing furiously, moving slowly into our own bedroom, and sinking down on to the double bed. My emotions were running wild inside me, and I could sense Chloe's too. It was a familiar drill by now, forming a telepathic link between our minds, and transmitting my feelings to her. Warm delight spread through Chloe as she felt our combined love washing over her, and our passions started to take over. We drew together, closer than ever before, and began to spiral out of control.

Our clothes didn't stay on long, hitting the floor one at a time, and as we nestled together under the duvet cover, our love still flowing between us, there was a part of my mind that told me we shouldn't be doing this. We were using no contraceptives, and my logical mind screamed at me to stop. Unfortunately, my emotions had completely taken over, and logical thought had no power over my actions. After all, we'd got away without using contraceptives before. And yet…and yet…this time I knew, somehow I knew, it was going to be different.

The second it happened, I knew it. As the sperm and the egg came together, I could sense the tiny life-form that was created. I had never felt so many emotions at the one time, and my mind reeled with a combination of joy, horror, lust, wonder, love and a terrible sickening feeling as I knew exactly what had happened. For several minutes my realisation fought with my disbelief, and as realisation came out on top, I looked over at Chloe. With the telepathic link between us, she would have sensed it too.

Chloe was asleep, so exhausted she had dropped off instantly. The telepathic link was useless now, and I dropped it. Chloe didn't know she was pregnant.

__

Oh God, what have I done?

Not only were we going to be married, we were going to be parents too. We should have been more careful. It was my fault. _I _should have been more careful. It was with this guilt that I finally succumbed to both mental and physical exhaustion, and fell asleep beside Chloe. I only hoped that she would forgive me.


	5. Ghost from the Past

Chapter Two: Ghost from the Past

My brain was still half-asleep when I woke up the following morning, and at first I couldn't remember where I was. I had been expecting to wake up in the room the four of us shared at the mansion, and I was disoriented for a few moments, until I remembered where we were. I had a vague feeling in the back of my mind that something bad had happened, something terrible, but I couldn't quite reach through the sleepy fog that clouded my mind to recollect exactly what it was.

I put on my clothes and stumbled half-awake out of the room, heading for the shower. I tried the bathroom door, and it was locked. I could hear somebody else using the shower, and I cursed the drawback of living in this house: there was only one bathroom. Instead I walked downstairs to find something to eat, hearing the sound of voices coming from the kitchen. When I got there, I saw Chloe and Felicity sitting at the kitchen table, chatting happily together, empty cereal bowls sitting in front of them. They both looked so carefree and innocent, and it was now that I remembered what had happened last night.

Chloe was pregnant. Pushing my telepathy out, I could sense the presence of the embryo inside of her. I knew I would have to tell her about it sooner or later, before she found out for herself, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell her now. She was so happy, so relaxed, so young. It was not right for the burden of motherhood to placed on her shoulders at age sixteen. She still had so much of her life to enjoy, to explore and to learn, before being tied down to a family. I hated myself for it, but at the same time I felt a wonder and awe at the thought that I was to be a father. And besides, there was nothing we or anybody else could do about it now. We couldn't change the past.

Both of the girls heard me coming into the kitchen, and turned to smile brightly at me.

"Hi!" Fliss greeted me. "You're too late to catch me getting out of bed; I've already got my clothes on."

"You really are shameless," I said to her.

"Is Chris still angry?" Chloe asked.

I realised it had to be Chris who was in the shower. Felicity giggled once more and said, "A bit. He's really convinced that Neil's trying it on with me. I think he's jealous,"

"It's not right," I said. "You shouldn't be tormenting him like that. I don't like what you're doing to me either, making me out to be some kind of voyeur."

I couldn't deny that Felicity was attractive – she was a classic American blonde beauty – but I didn't really take any interest in other girls' looks, now that I was committed to Chloe. I was content to have Fliss as a friend, and I didn't like the way she was trying to imply an affair between us. I could read her mind and I knew that she also found me attractive, and, if circumstances had been different, she might have fallen in love with me instead.

"It's just a joke!" she was saying. "You don't need to take it so seriously!"

"Yeah, well, I've got other things on my mind."

"You mean the attack last night?" said Chloe.

I nodded, "That, and – "

Biting my tongue, I stopped myself. I couldn't tell her. Not yet. Not while she was so happy and carefree.

"And what?" she asked.

"Tell you later. I – "

It was then that I felt it. From inside of Chloe, a tiny consciousness came, questing out towards me. My heart jumped in shock, and I just about managed to keep the surprise from showing on my face. Our child, even as a day-old embryo, had a consciousness, a telepathic presence, and was trying to communicate, obviously having sensed my own mind projecting towards Chloe. The tiny presence reached me, and I felt its thoughts inside my head. The unborn baby's mind wasn't developed enough to handle words or ideas; all it could send me was raw emotions: curiosity, fear, and a desire for reassurance.

"What were you going to say?" said Chloe.

"I…uh, nothing…" I mumbled.

I responded to the baby's mind, trying to reassure it. I tried but couldn't tell if it was going to be a boy or a girl. Paternal instincts, something I had never felt before, flowed out from my mind to the child. It was one of the most incredible feelings I had ever experienced. I was going to be a father. This little mind, this little miracle, inside Chloe was going to be my baby son or daughter. It sensed my fatherly affections, and the tiny consciousness was calmed. I felt the most amazing sense of awe and wonder at what had just happened. I had to be the first man ever to communicate with his child before it was even born. I wondered what Chloe would make of it. 

I was distracted from my thoughts as Chris entered the room, newly showered and dressed, running a hand through his still-damp hair.

"Morning, all," he yawned. "How's my happy family this morning?"

Happy family. If only he knew. I was too worried to be hungry, so I grabbed an apple for breakfast, and watched as Fliss walked over to the sink to put her empty cereal bowl to be washed. She was in fact extremely attractive, I decided. Nice face, nice figure, well developed for a fifteen year old. Although I admired her appearance, I told myself I could not view her with any romantic interest. My heart already belonged to Chloe.

"When are we setting out on this mission type thing?" Chris asked, reaching for the cereal packet. "I forget exactly what it's about."

"Liar, you remember fine well," said Fliss, moving over to flick a stray hair out of his eyes.

"As soon as possible," I said in answer to his question. "I think it's best we move quickly, before we give our attacker another chance to strike."

"Well, I'm ready," said Chloe.

I looked at her, and came to a decision. It wasn't an easy decision to make. I wasn't sure how to begin, "Chloe, can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"

"OK…"

We walked out into the hallway, and I led her into the living room, closing the door behind me.

"What's up?" she said.

"You're not coming with us."

"Pardon?"

"You're not coming with us. You're staying here at the house."

"Uh, why?"

"Because it isn't safe. The assassin could attack us again at any time. I don't want you in danger."

She was impatient and a little angry, "Haven't we had this discussion a million times already? I thought we had agreed I was entitled to risk my own life!"

"It's different this time. It isn't just your life. Chloe – "

I made the decision. There was no turning back now. It was time to tell her.

" – Chloe, you know we have no secrets from one another," I said. "That's one thing we promised each other early on in our relationship. What I'm about to say, you probably don't want to hear, and I don't want to tell you, but I have to. Chloe – you're pregnant."

I wasn't quite sure how I had expected her to react. Crying, screaming, slapping me, smiling and embracing me, were all possible scenarios I had imagined. I certainly hadn't expected her to react calmly, give me a small nod, and reply, "I know."

"Know?!" I cried in surprise. "How could you possibly know?"

"I can feel her inside me. She's telepathic, like her father."

"She's been 'talking' to you too?"

"Yes."

"How do you know she's a girl?"

"Because I'm her mother, and she knows she can trust me completely. She telepaths everything to me. She's not so sure about you. She's shielding herself from you."

"She can do that?"

"Apparently."

"Chloe…" I hesitated. "I…I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For making you pregnant, of course. Aren't you mad at me?"

"In a way. But at the same time, I'm happy to be pregnant. It just feels as if it's…right. As if it was meant to be this way. I don't feel like I'm not ready. It's as if it was written somehow, before it happened. It was always going to happen and there was nothing we could do to stop it. She's destiny's child."

I wasn't sure what to make of that. I said nothing for a moment, then I brought myself back to the main point of the conversation, "So you understand why I don't want you in danger."

"Yes. But staying here at the house won't make me safe. Suppose the attacker knows where we live. Suppose she comes here and I'm alone. The safest place that I – and our daughter – can be is with you and Chris and Fliss."

"Yeah…I suppose you're right…"

"There's one thing I don't understand, though."

"What?"

"How can our daughter be using her telepathy when she's hasn't even been born yet? The Professor told us that mutants only start to use their powers when they enter puberty, or just before."

"Well," I said. "If you think about it, our child isn't really a mutant. You're a mutant because you developed powers and genes your parents didn't have. She's only inherited her telepathy from my genes, which means she can use it right away. She's not a mutant; she's just the child of her parents."

"Do you think she has any of our other powers?"

"I don't know. Ask her."

Chloe shook her head, "She wouldn't understand. She can only sense emotions and feelings."

"Of course. Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"You really are OK with us having a baby? I mean, you aren't thinking of having an abortion?"

Chloe was shocked, "Of course not! She already has a consciousness! Abortion would be nothing less than murder!"

"I agree. I – "

"What?"

"I…I'm just a bit confused, and still a little shocked," I admitted. "I've found out you're pregnant, and all I feel is this sense of awe and disbelief; disbelief that we have created something so wonderful. I just keep wondering if this is the way my father felt when he discovered my mum was expecting me. It seems to me that he would just have seen me as an opportunity, as a tool to use in his experimentation."

"I don't know," she said. "But I know you'll be a better father than he was."

"That wouldn't be hard. I'll try my best. Anyway – you're ready to go?"

"Yes."

"OK. With luck, we won't run into any trouble. We can meet Constantine, talk to him, then report back to the Professor."

"Right."

"And Chloe?"

"Yes?"

"If we do run into danger, promise me that you'll put your own safety first, and won't risk yourself for our sake. Promise me you'll keep the baby safe."

"I promise. The safest place I can be is next to you. That's where I'll be, whatever happens."

I wasn't sure if I agreed with that, but I didn't argue. I went through into the kitchen to check on the others. Chris had just finished eating. Felicity flashed me a sexy smile, and I sensed Chris' anger rising again.

"If there's something going on between you two, I want to know about it right now," he demanded.

"There isn't," I said. "Fliss, stop fooling around. The situation is too serious for you to be acting like a kid."

"Well, I _am_ a kid. I'm 15 years old," she grinned. "You're the one who's being old and stale."

I ignored her and said, "So you're both ready to go?"

Chris and Fliss both nodded, "Yup."

"All right. We'll leave in ten minutes."

The Professor had given us the address of the Matthews residence, but as I consulted a street-map, it seemed to be more of an estate: a large manor house, extensive gardens and a courtyard, and a small area of surrounding forest. It wasn't as big as Xavier's own estate, but it still promised to be impressively opulent. It was about two miles away from my own house, and we decided to travel on foot, as going more slowly would give me a better chance of detecting any traps that had been set, or unfriendly mutants that were lying in wait for us.

"It's _still_ cold," Fliss was complaining as we left the house. "Isn't it ever warm in this country?"

"Not what a New Yorker would call warm, no," Chris said.

"We find your country too hot," Chloe added.

"I'd hate to be here in winter," the blonde girl muttered.

We had been walking for about ten minutes when I sensed the presence of another mutant, nearby. It wasn't anyone I had ever encountered before.

"Hold on," I said, putting out a hand to stop the others. "There's another mutant somewhere near."

"Where?"

"Is it your attacker?"

I frowned as I tried to pinpoint the position of the mutant. My gaze fell upon a heavily pregnant woman who was walking on the other side of the street. She wasn't a mutant herself – the baby inside her must have been.

"False alarm," I said. "It's OK."

The pregnant woman reminded me that Chloe too was expecting a mutant child – somehow, while thinking about the mission, I'd actually managed to forget this – and it all came flooding back. As the four of us – or should it be the _five_ of us? – continued on our way, I forced myself to stop thinking and worrying about the baby, and keep my concentration on the mission. Accomplish the mission, keep Chloe and the baby safe – that was all that mattered right now.

It wasn't until we came close to the Matthews estate that I could begin to sense the presence of other mutants. There were four of them inside the estate, but at this distance I couldn't quite identify any of them. One was obviously Constantine himself – I didn't know who the other four were. 

"There are four mutants here," I said to the others. "I can't tell who they are at the moment. I'll need to get closer."

"Are they friends or enemies?" asked Fliss.

"I don't know. Be ready to run – or fight – if I tell you."

"Whatever you say," she giggled, prompting another glare from Chris.

I ignored her once again. Felicity really was being silly. Maybe it was a phase girls of her age went through, or maybe it was just her way of reacting to the danger she found herself in. She knew I was already in love, so why she kept flirting with me – or at least pretending to – was a mystery. I put it out of my mind.

We came to a high brick wall, and a huge pair of iron gates that blocked the entrance to the estate. By the gates was a small intercom device, presumably connected to the interior of the manor house. The gates could probably be opened electronically from there. I pressed the button and waited for a response. It came after a few moments, "Yes?"

"Hello, I'd like to speak to Constantine Matthews," I replied, speaking into the device.

"Who is it?"

"My name is Neil Rosiçky. I have something important to discuss with him."

There was silence for a few seconds, then the voice said, "You may come in. Please proceed to the manor house where someone will meet you."

"Thank you," I said, and a moment later the gates silently sprung open.

I looked at the others, "So far, so good."

Chloe nodded and Fliss gave me a hopeful smile. Chris was looking slightly less pleased, "I don't like this. What if this Constantine turns out to be an enemy? We could easily be trapped in here."

"We'll be fine," I said. "If he's trying to trap us, I'll read his mind and know about it in advance."

"I suppose so. Lead the way."

I went first through the opened gateway, and the others followed behind me. I could still sense the four other mutants inside the estate, and I concentrated on trying to identify them. Two of them seemed familiar – that was all I could tell at the moment – and the two others I had never met. I wondered who it could be. Had the Professor decided to send some of the other X-Men ahead of us? Could Magneto also be on to this?

We walked towards the manor house, crossing the wide open paved space that was the courtyard, and the mutants' minds became clearer. None of them was Xavier or Magneto. One of them was – or was she? – yes, she was – one of them was the girl who had attacked me the previous night.

"We may be in trouble," I said. "My attacker is here."

Fliss' eyes widened, and Chloe took a step closer to me, "Here?"

"They're coming," I said quickly. "All four of them, they're closing in on us. They're spread out in a square. I can read their minds now – oh, _sh*t,_ it's a trap!"

I could see two of them now, walking across the courtyard towards us. The female – tall, dark and slender – who I had identified as my would-be assassin, padding across the ground as silently as a shadow. She stood at the north west corner of the courtyard, watching us intently. At the north east corner stood a man, about my own age, his arms folded, a triumphant smile on his face, supreme confidence brimming in his mind.

"So you survived after all," he said to me.

"You were the one who sent her?" I asked.

"Yes."

"You're Constantine, aren't you? Why did you want her to kill me?"

He smiled lazily, "I would have thought that was obvious. I want power – I want the world in my grasp – and you're the only one powerful enough to stop me from getting it."

"You were given mutation implant therapy, right? That's what warped your mind?"

Constantine laughed, "No, I received the same treatment as you, when I was a new-born baby. Like you, I'm still completely sane. I just have a different set of objectives."

"Obviously. What made you so hungry for power?"

"Simply the knowledge that it could be mine. Don't you feel the same?"

I didn't respond right away, and he continued, "We could do it together, you know. You and I. We could rule the world. Who could stop us? Anything we wanted, anything at all, we could have."

"I already have everything I want," I said, thinking of Chloe and the baby. "I'm not interested in power."

"In that case, I will have to kill you."

I tried to stop myself from panicking. Things had gone wrong, badly wrong; nothing had turned out as we had expected. Somehow it had never occurred to me that Constantine might already have chosen to go down the path of darkness. We were trapped now, inside his estate, surrounded by him and his associates.

"There are other mutants more powerful than me," I told him. "They will stand in your way."

"Like who?"

The Professor and Magneto sprung to mind. Neither of them would want to see Constantine take supreme power, although in Magneto's case it would only be because he wanted supreme power for himself.

What were we supposed to do now? The Professor hadn't told us what to do in this eventuality. I knew I had to make a decision, and make it fast. Talking to Constantine probably would not work; I doubted I was a persuasive enough arguer to change his mind, and I hadn't quite mastered using my telepathy to control other people's minds. Running was an option, but getting away would be difficult when we were surrounded. Fighting was the third choice, but again it was risky, since we didn't know what powers they possessed. I decided to try and buy some time.

"Constantine…" I began. "It doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to seek power. Power is fleeting."

"Not if you have enough of it," he responded. "Listen, Oculus – yes, I found out your name too – I don't have time to waste with you. You have two choices: join me or die."

"What a cliché," Chris muttered under his breath. "Neil, I'm ready to fight."

"Me too," said Fliss.

"Do whatever you think is best," Chloe whispered to me.

Chloe. The baby. I couldn't risk a fight. I knew I could not live if either of them was killed. That did not, however, mean I could back down to Constantine. I couldn't join him. I wouldn't join him. I would do what was right. Running seemed the only option. I glanced behind me to assess our chances of escape.

At the south west and south east corners of the courtyard stood the other two mutants. The first one was unfamiliar to me, and looked completely normal, apart from his feet, which seemed slightly oddly shaped. Was that his mutation? I turned my gaze to the other. This was the second of the two mutants whose presence had seemed familiar to me. My heart rose in my mouth and my blood ran cold as I recognised who it was. It couldn't be. How was this possible?

"Ocelot!" Constantine snapped. "Choose your prey!"

The mutant with the strangely shaped feet gave a sharp-toothed grin, and extended his arm to point at Fliss. Chris' eyes narrowed and he stepped protectively in front of her.

"Impervious, likewise!"

The mutant at the south east corner raised a hand to point at Chris. I frowned. Impervious? That was wrong. This mutant went by a different name. Chloe's fear rose as Ocelot and Impervious began moving towards us, slowly, carefully, not giving us any avenues of escape. I turned back round to see Constantine, smiling confidently, and the girl assassin, her index finger slowly lengthening into a foot-long blade. Fliss gave a little shriek, and I turned round to see why. Ocelot was now running across the ground towards her, on those strangely shaped feet, so much like a big cat's, running at a speed no normal person would ever have been capable of. Long, razor sharp claws extended from his fingers as he closed in on us.

Constantine laughed, "Your move, Oculus."

I couldn't even begin to think of a plan. My mind was in a turmoil, still thrown by the mutant who was now steadily walking towards Chris. It was impossible, it _had_ to be. For the one called Impervious was an enemy we had thought long dead. I told myself I had to be mistaken, but there was no way I could have mistaken _that_ person's face.

A/N: Please leave a review; it will motivate me to write more.


	6. On the Run

Chapter Three: On the Run

The huge, menacing figure of Antaeus stepped ever closer, and my mind was still submerged in confusion and panic, no nearer to coming up with any kind of plan. Chloe and Chris had both recognised him by this point, and were similarly stunned. We were all still standing in shock as Ocelot approached, all of us except Felicity. She'd never met Antaeus before, and wasn't as bewildered as the rest of us. Now, with the feline mutant almost upon her, and no orders forthcoming from me, she used her initiative, raising one arm to send a fork of lightning towards Ocelot. With catlike reflexes and agility, he sprang from the ground, leaping over the electric bolt, landing easily on both feet. He pulled back one arm to slash at her with his claws.

At that moment I finally came to my senses, and took stock of what was happening. I lifted both hands, and used my telekinesis to fling Ocelot away from us. He twisted, tried to stay on his feet, but was unable to do so, and fell on his back, skidding away across the paving stones. I glanced over to see the seven foot tall colossus named Antaeus, or Impervious, whichever name he was using now, coming ever closer. Chris had run forward to deal with him, and I spun round to see what Constantine and the girl were doing.

Constantine was still standing with his arms folded, a confident smirk on his face, watching the proceedings with interest. The female mutant was gone…or was she? I could still sense her presence, but I couldn't see her anywhere. Was she lurking under cover somewhere? No, I could feel her getting closer…she was only a few yards away…but I couldn't see her!

"That girl can make herself invisible!" I yelled to the others. "She's the one who attacked me last night!"

"Where is she?" Chloe asked.

"She's coming towards me!" I said. "I'll draw her away from you! Make a run for it!"

"No! I'm staying with you!"

"Chloe, remember the baby! Get out of here! Get back to the house and call the Professor!"

Before she could respond, the girl assassin attacked. I was ready for her, and lifted my arm to throw her backwards. She gave a cry and I heard the thud as she landed on the ground. Cursing angrily, she got back to her feet. I risked a glance around to see what was happening. Chris was fighting Antaeus, dodging his gigantic hammer-like fists with ease, while his own attacks did little damage to the giant's immense form. Fliss was keeping Ocelot away from her with a steady barrage of lightning bolts; the cat-man was always fast and nimble enough to avoid being hit.

"Nightshade, finish him!" Constantine yelled.

The girl was running towards me once more, her anger and adrenaline driving her, and I braced myself to launch another telekinetic blast in her direction. I lifted my arm to meet her advance.

Something was wrong. I couldn't lift my arm. My entire body felt as if it weighed a ton or more, and lifting my arm was like trying to lift an elephant from the ground. What the hell was going on? The girl was on me now, her assassin's blade swooping down to enter my chest. Chloe threw herself at the girl, knocking her to the ground. In her surprise, the girl's invisibility was disengaged, and I could see the two of them grappling with each other on the floor. I still couldn't move a muscle, but I could sense power emanating from Constantine, restricting me. Was he telekinetic also? No…I knew what telekinetic power felt like, and this wasn't it. It was something else…

Chloe screamed as the assassin blade was thrust deep into her chest, and deadly poison began to spread throughout her body. Desperation and fury overtook me, and I entered my berserk state. My power increasing tenfold, I lifted both arms, targeting the girl and Constantine simultaneously. Unleashing my telekinesis, I felt two psychic blasts speed away from me like Exocet missiles. The first hit the female assassin, Nightshade, and flung her the length of the courtyard. The second hit Constantine, taking him by surprise and knocking him backwards.

I fell to my knees, putting my hands on Chloe. I knew I only had seconds to invoke my healing power before the poison killed her and our child. I created a telepathic link between us, then I stopped, my heart jumping in shock. Chloe was already being healed. The poison was being destroyed, cleansed from her system. But how? I hadn't used my healing, and she didn't possess the power herself. Only Wolverine and Antaeus had the same gift – it didn't make any sense…then it hit me. The baby inside her…my daughter…she had inherited my healing power and was instinctively using it to restore her mother. Chloe's eyes snapped open and she looked up at me, "I'm OK."

"Can you stand? We've got to get out of here."

She got to her feet, and I looked to see how our friends were faring. Chris was still battling with Antaeus, still avoiding the man mountain's blows, still causing no real damage himself on the counter attack. A stand-off. Fliss, on the other hand, was beginning to struggle. She couldn't keep firing lightning bolts forever, and her attacks were becoming slower and weaker. Ocelot was edging closer and closer, carefully watching and waiting for his opportunity.

"Chris! Felicity!" I yelled. "Head for the gates! We're getting out of here!"

It happened again. Everything suddenly felt a thousand times heavier, and I was unable to move towards the gates. What the hell _was_ this? It was Constantine using his power again, but I couldn't figure out exactly what he was doing. I tried to lift my hands to attack him once more, but I hadn't the strength. They were far too heavy, as if a battleship was crushing each of them down. My adrenaline rush was gone and I couldn't enter my berserk state. Nightshade was on her feet and hurrying towards me.

__

Please, God, help us.

Whether through prayer, or through chance, I had a moment of luck. A stray lightning bolt from Felicity forked through the air towards Constantine. He was forced to leap aside to avoid it; his concentration was broken and I was free. Chloe was already running towards the gates, and I followed after her. Chris ducked under Antaeus' flailing fists, and fell into step beside me. I used my power to push Ocelot away from Fliss, and she joined our rush for escape.

The next problem was the huge iron gates that blocked the exit from the estate. I could easily have used my telekinesis to rip them from their holdings, but climbing over the ruined gates would have slowed us down. There had to be another way. Chris got to them first, changing to liquid to slip between the bars, then re-coalescing on the other side. I knew what I had to do. I grabbed Chloe's right hand and Felicity's left, and used my power to lift the three of us into the air, push us over the fence, and land safely on the other side, out of the estate.

"Come on, we can't stop now!" I cried. "Keep going!"

Chris grabbed the tiring Fliss by the arm, and pulled her along. Chloe grasped my hand and we ran after them. I hoped the gates would slow down our enemies, and I turned round to see how they were faring. Ocelot had taken a run-up and I watched open-mouthed as he sprang from those mutated heels, leaping clear over the fence, and landing with catlike grace on our side. Antaeus had taken the more direct route, taking hold of the iron bars with his hugely muscled arms, and ripping them free. Nightshade, invisible once more, was just behind him, and Constantine was slightly further back. We hadn't escaped yet. We had to keep going.

"Where are we going?" Fliss asked as we hurried away from the estate. "We can't outrun that guy Ocelot, you know!" 

"We need to find somewhere to hide!" I said. "None of them is telepathic, so if we can lose them, we should be safe!"

I glanced back to check on our enemies. Ocelot was sprinting forward on his incredible feet, rapidly closing the gap between us. I raised my hand to fling him through the air away from me. Constantine extended one arm, using his own power – what _was _it, exactly? – to slow Ocelot's trajectory. The feline mutant landed beside him, and Constantine looked up, directly into my eyes. For a moment our gazes locked; his dark, brooding eyes radiating hatred and a determination to destroy me at all costs. I knew I had made an enemy for life. I knew that neither of us could be at rest while the other was alive. I knew we would have to fight, and one of us would have to die.

Then I turned back to face the way I was going, and the spell was broken. Chris was the fittest and fastest of us, and he was moving out in front, Felicity half-running, half being pulled in his wake. Chloe was the one I was worried about; her small, light body had never possessed great running speed or stamina, and already I sensed her beginning to weaken. I wasn't sure how much longer she could go on, but I certainly wasn't going to leave her behind. If necessary we would turn and fight once more. I looked ahead, using my long-range vision to see what lay ahead of us. We needed to find a busy street, where we could blend into the crowd and lose our foes.

The street ahead was largely empty. I pushed my vision through the buildings on the left, to get a look at the next street. It was slightly busier; a small crowd of people were milling around the shops. Not enough people for us to disappear among them, but hopefully it would lead to a bigger gathering.

"Turn left up here!" I called to Chris, and he nodded.

Ocelot was getting close again; I could sense him running up behind me once more, and I turned round to discourage him a second time. I used my telekinesis to push him away, but Constantine was already countering with his own power, and I couldn't move Ocelot an inch. He was getting closer now, and I prepared to do battle. Fliss turned to fire a lightning bolt at him, and he was taken by surprise, forced to leap aside, roll nimbly over and get back to his feet. 

We took the side street on the left, and Ocelot stopped for a moment, presumably to allow Constantine and the others to catch up. It was Antaeus who was holding them up; his huge, heavily muscled body was an awesome thing to behold in a fight, but not very fast on his feet.

"Who _is_ that guy?" Fliss cried. "That really big guy? You were all looking at him as if he was a ghost or something!"

"That's Antaeus."

"Who?"

"One of the four mutants who worked for my father," I explained quickly. "Before we met you, when he was trying to kill us."

"I thought you said they were all dead."

"They are. I killed Antaeus myself."

"So what's he doing here?" Fliss asked in confusion.

"I don't know. I really don't know," I sighed.

"Do you think Constantine can raise the dead?" Chris suggested. "Maybe that's one of his powers."

"I don't think that's the kind of thing you can mutate into…"

We were running up the centre of the shopping arcade, weaving hurriedly in and out of the small crowd of people. A few shoppers gave us strange looks as we passed, instinctively turning their heads to try and see what we were running from.

"Mutants!" one woman yelled.

She must have seen Ocelot – he was the only one with a visibly obvious mutation. Screams began to ring in the air, and the crowd panicked. I couldn't really blame them; the sight of seven foot tall Antaeus thundering down the road towards you was enough to frighten anyone.

Felicity slipped, and ploughed straight into a man unloading a crate from the back of a van. Chris braked to a halt, and hurried back to her. The man was yelling angrily at Fliss, as she struggled to get back to her feet. Ocelot was on them in an instant, shoving the man aside, slashing at Fliss with his claws. Chris tackled him to the ground, and tried to chop him in the neck. Ocelot was too strong; he kicked Chris solidly in the ribs, winding him. Fliss scrambled to safety, and aimed a lightning bolt at the feline, who rolled aside to avoid it.

Nightshade had caught up by this time, still invisible; I sensed her right index finger lengthening into her deadly assassin blade, and she stabbed towards the grounded Chris. I used my power to pull Chris away from her, and her blade stabbed harmlessly into the road. Ocelot snarled like an enraged tiger, and made for Fliss once more. I hurled him away from her, and yelled, "Come on! Run!"

Chris got to his feet, painfully holding his chest, "I'm not going anywhere. It feels like he's broken half my ribs."

"Get behind me!"

Constantine had joined the scene, and raised both arms, lifting the delivery van off the ground, and sending it towards us at high speed. I countered with my telekinesis, and managed to deflect it away. It hit a shop front nearby, shattering the window and collapsing the interior. The screams of the crowd grew in pitch and volume, and people began fleeing for their lives.

"Kill them!" Constantine yelled.

Nightshade was running towards me, but Ocelot pushed her aside in his haste to follow his master's bidding. I raised my hands before Constantine could, and flung both of them backwards, sending them as far as I could. Both of them landed on the ground just in front of Antaeus, who was still pounding slowly towards the battle. I turned to Chris, "I'll heal you as soon I can. In the meantime, find somewhere to hide. Look, there's a horse-box over there. Get behind that."

"Horse-box?" Chloe repeated, looking around.

For once Chris didn't argue or complain, painfully limping over to take refuge. Fliss ran to stand beside me, "What do I do?"

"Keep Constantine busy! I can handle the rest!"

A bolt of electricity lanced through the air from Fliss to Constantine, and he was forced to leap headlong to get out of its way. I used my power to pull the wrecked delivery van out of the destroyed shop front, and planted it squarely in front of the other three, blocking their progress along the narrow street. Ocelot jumped clean over it, and Antaeus appeared to be trying to manhandle it out of his way.

Then Chloe began screaming, "Help me! Help me!"

I spun round, ready to defend my future wife and daughter from whatever might threaten them. But Chloe wasn't talking to me. Instead she had gone over to the horse box which Chris was crouching behind, and was trying to free the two horses inside. The animals were stamping their feet on the floor of the vehicle, eager to run to her side. She unlatched the back door, and the two horses were released. Chloe pointed back down the street at our enemies, and the horses galloped forwards, heading straight for Constantine. He'd just picked himself up from the floor, when he saw the two animals attacking him. One of the horses reared up on its hind legs and tried to kick him with its forelegs. One of its hooves caught him a glancing blow, and Constantine fell, temporarily stunned. The second horse blocked the path of Ocelot, who was running towards us.

"Now's our chance! Let's go!" I yelled.

The three of us began running. Chris staggered out to meet us, and I put my hands on his shoulders, using my healing power to mend the damage to his rib-cage. Then the four of us were speeding away from the scene. Chloe had called the horses back, and told them to go wherever they liked. She hated to see animals in captivity. I looked back. Antaeus was kneeling clumsily beside his fallen leader, using his own healing power to restore Constantine. Ocelot was limping slightly; he must have twisted his ankle while avoiding the horse. I couldn't see Nightshade, but I sensed her beside Antaeus. They wouldn't be on the move for a good few moments, and that would give us ample time to disappear. Chloe knew this area well, having grown up here, and she was already directing us along the safest route back to my house. We had won this round against our enemies, but it wouldn't be the last.

When we got back to the house, it was Fliss who first raised the fear that was rising in my own mind.

"How do we know we're safe here?" she demanded. "What if Constantine knows where we're staying?"

"I don't see how he could," I said. "This house belonged to my mother's parents, so it will still be registered under their name: Vladenko."

"What if he's had us followed?"

"No. We've only been here a day, and I haven't sensed anybody following us when we've been outside. Apart from my attacker, of course, but she ran off before we got anywhere near the house."

"So we're safe?" Chloe said hopefully.

"I think so. For now, anyway."

"So what's our next move?" Chris asked impatiently.

"I would have thought that was obvious. We contact the Professor, tell him everything that's happened, and ask for his advice. Hopefully he'll send somebody to back us up."

"It would help if we could tell him exactly what Constantine's power is," he said thoughtfully.

"I was thinking the same. I've been trying to figure it out, and the only thing I can come up with is this: he can create gravity fields."

"Huh?" said Fliss.

"In the same way Magneto creates magnetic fields to control metal, I reckon Constantine can create gravity fields to control – well, anything. He uses them to move objects; that van for example. He was also doing something to me in the courtyard, stopping from me moving, making me feel about a hundred times as heavy as I really am. He must have been altering the gravity around me."

"And he was implanted with this power?" she asked. "The same way you were?"

"Yes."

"What about the others? Ocelot and Nightshade and Antaeus?"

"Antaeus was implanted with his mutations when he was a small child. It was a different treatment from the one Constantine and I received, and it had side effects, altering his personality and making him psychotic. As for Ocelot and the girl, I assume they were born mutants, and Constantine recruited them at some point. We know Nightshade has the ability to make herself invisible, and she seems to be able to change her index fingers into poison blades."

"The perfect assassin," said Chloe.

"Yes. And Ocelot seems to be one of those mutants who's taken on characteristics of another species, like Rat or Toad."

"Don't remind me about Rat," Fliss shivered.

Chris frowned, "It still doesn't explain one thing. How come Antaeus is alive? We killed him!"

I thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Did we? We never actually _saw_ him die."

"We heard him hit the ground from the top of a seven storey building! That's pretty conclusive, I'd say!"

"Not necessarily. He can heal, remember. What if he was still alive – fatally wounded but alive – for a split second after hitting the ground? What if he used his healing power to restore himself?"

"Don't be stupid," Chris said. "If you hit the ground from that high up, you're dead."

"It's the only explanation," I countered. "He does have immense body strength and an immunity to pain, remember. Perhaps that's what kept him alive for long enough to use his healing power."

"I don't think that could have happened," said Chris.

"What does it matter how he did it?" Fliss interrupted. "What matters right now is that he's alive and is trying to kill us! What are we going to do about it?"

"I'll call the Professor," I said, getting up from my seat and heading up to my bedroom, where I had left the communicator.

It was a long range transmitter – it had to be, to reach from Edinburgh to New York – and was too large to carry around with us, hence the reason we had left it at home. Chloe had followed me upstairs, and she sank down on the bed beside me as I plugged in the communicator and entered the mansion's frequency. She rested her head gently on my shoulder, and put an arm around me. The baby's mind came questing out to mine again, instinctively trying to find out whose body was touching Chloe, and whether or not that person represented a threat. The little telepath calmed when she sensed it was her father. I responded to her, sending love and reassurance, thanking her for healing Chloe, though she probably wouldn't understand.

"Weird," I said, still holding the communicator. "Nobody's answering."

Chloe shrugged, "The Professor must be out of his office. Try his personal frequency."

I did, but again I got no response. The first seeds of panic were sown in my mind. Had something happened in the mansion? 

"Still nothing," I said.

This time Chloe too seemed worried, "Do you think something's wrong?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's just busy. Perhaps they've got their own problems right now."

"Does that mean we're on our own?"

"I hope not. I'll try again later."

I forced myself to stop panicking, since the baby was sensing it and getting scared. We both reassured her – Chloe couldn't transmit telepathically, so the baby must have been reading her thoughts – and she was calmed once more.

"I wish this was over already," Chloe sighed. "I wish Constantine and Antaeus and the others would just go away and leave us alone. I don't want to fight anybody or kill anybody; I just want to live my life with you, get married and have our baby, without needing to worry about people trying to kill us. Why can't everybody just co-exist together? Why do some people have to bring suffering and misery into so many other people's lives?"

"Evil exists in everyone," I said. "It's just a question of whether or not you let it rule you."

"They're all evil," she said. "The four of them. We've got to stop them."

I nodded, "Constantine wants power, power over everyone and everything, and we can't let him have it."

"If we fail…" she hesitated. "Can anybody else stop him?"

"The Professor or Magneto could," I said. "They're both stronger than he is, but not for long. In a year, maybe two, Constantine and I will surpass them, if we're both still alive."

"It's like we're children playing an adults' game," Chloe said suddenly. "Think about it. You're Xavier and we're your X-Men. Constantine is Magneto and they're his Brotherhood. It's exactly the same."

"Except this is no game," I said grimly. "And one thing's different. The Professor and Magneto are friends, and they don't wish each other any harm. The same couldn't be said of Constantine and myself."

Chloe sighed unhappily and looked at the floor. Then she raised her head and said resolutely, "We have to fight them. I don't like to fight, but we have to. We have to make the world a better and safer place before we bring our daughter into it. We can't have a baby and constantly be on the run from our enemies. This has to end."

I nodded my agreement, and gently placed my hand on her abdomen, still awed and amazed by the thought of the baby – our baby – that was growing inside.

"I still can't believe we're having a baby," I said. "When are we going to tell Chris and Fliss?"

"Tell Chris and Fliss what?" came a voice from the doorway.

We both turned in surprise. I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't sensed their approach. Now the two of them stood outside the bedroom door, looking suspicious.

"What are you talking about?" said Fliss curiously.

"Uh…" I struggled. "We – we can't get through to the Professor."

Her eyes widened, "So what do we do?"

"I'm going to try again later. In the meantime we stay here and stay alert. If our enemies do manage to find us, we'll have to find somewhere else to run to."

"Why don't we just stand and fight them?" said Chris. "We can defeat them, if we can plan it carefully enough."

Yes. We could. But I didn't want to risk a fight unless it was absolutely necessary. The safety of Chloe and the baby was my number one priority, and I wouldn't risk them for anything. But I couldn't tell Chris that. I couldn't tell anybody else about the baby, not yet. When Chloe and I were ready, then we would tell them, but not right away.

"I want to talk to the Professor first and see what he suggests," I told him, which was true, but not the real reason.

He shrugged, "Fair enough. I could do with some lunch. Anybody else hungry?"

"Yeah, I could do with a bite," I said.

Chris looked at Felicity, "What can you cook?"

"Hey!" she retorted. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm going to cook! You're so sexist, you know that?"

"No, I'm not. Women are just better cooks."

"We are not! You only think that because you're a chauvinist pig and you've always – "

I couldn't hear the rest as they moved off down the stairs towards the kitchen.

"Are you hungry?" I said to Chloe.

She smiled, "Pregnant women need plenty of food, you know. I'm starving."

I took her hand, and we walked downstairs together, content and happy in the love we shared. It was then that I realised Chloe would no longer be mine alone; from now on I would have to share her with the baby. A smile crossed my face as I realised I didn't mind a bit. I knew Chloe would be a wonderful mother, and I would try to be as good a father as I possibly could. I had devoted my life to opposing the destruction of life, and what better way to do so than to create a new life ourselves?

A/N: I have taken a slight creative liberty here. Neil's suggestion that the X-Men have "got their own problems right now" is intended to signify that this story takes place at the same time as events in X3 (whatever those might be), and hence the X-Men won't be playing a significant part in this story. Obviously I don't have a clue what is going to happen in X3, and I should probably point out now, for legal purposes, that I don't own X-Men the movie or any of its characters. I think I forgot to say that in the last story. 

A/N 2: Once again, please review. It really does encourage me to keep going. Thanks to all those who have done so already, and I hope you continue to enjoy.


	7. Revelations

Chapter Four: Revelations

It was nearly the end of the day, and we still hadn't been able to get in touch with the Professor, either in his office or on his personal communicator. It seemed as if we were going to have to rely on ourselves, at least for the moment.

"All right, it looks as if we're on our own for now," I said, as I switched off the communicator after our latest fruitless attempt. "We have to decide what we're going to do next. Any ideas?"

"Kill Constantine before he kills us," said Chris. "Simple and effective. You know we're not going to reason with him. He's too far gone for that."

Fliss nodded, "It'll take more than a few words to change his mind. I agree with Chris; I think we should fight them. If we can't beat them, we call the Professor for help."

"If we can get through to him at all," said Chloe.

"I guess we all agree that we have to fight them at some point," I said. "There's something else I was thinking about…"

"What?" asked Fliss.

"I'd like to find the laboratory where Constantine and I were implanted with our mutations by our respective fathers. I want to destroy it. I don't want anybody else to have to undergo what I have."

"Then there would be no more artificial mutations," said Chris, then he looked at me suspiciously. "It would also ensure that nobody could ever threaten your position as most powerful mutant on Earth."

"Yes, I suppose that's true," I agreed. "I'm doing this for the right reason, Chris. You know I'm not interested in having power. But if I know there is nobody more powerful than me, then I know that I will always be able to overcome anybody who tries to hurt us."

He wasn't convinced, "I think you're a little too keen to make sure that nobody can match up to you."

"No, I'm not. My daughter will be able to match me."

Chloe's eyes widened. Fliss frowned, "Your daughter?"

I quickly amended, "Uh, well, if I were ever to have one."

Chloe relaxed. I turned back to Chris, "I'm just trying to ensure that there won't be anybody else like Constantine or my father, who uses artificial mutation for the wrong reasons."

"I know," he said. "But can _we_ trust _you_ to use your powers for the right reasons? If you start to go down the wrong road, nobody will be able to stop you, or stand up to you."

"You'll just have to trust me," I said.

He clearly wasn't satisfied with that, but he didn't say anything. I knew why Chris felt the way he did. He was jealous, understandably so, of my superior power, and he was still convinced that I was trying to steal Felicity away from him. Even though Chris and I were friends, we had always had an ongoing conflict as to who was the 'alpha male', and now that I was clearly pulling ahead, he wasn't pleased.

"All right. It's late, and I don't think we're going to get anything done tonight," I said. "It's risky going to sleep, in case our enemies come looking for us, so I suggest we take turns to stay awake and keep an eye out for trouble. Any problems with that?"

Chris had one, "Nightshade will make herself invisible. You're the only one who'll be able to detect her."

"What we need is a guard dog," said Fliss. "Are there any dogs around here that Chloe could control?"

I nodded, "Yes. The people next door have two bulldogs."

"Then I'll ask them to watch over us," said Chloe.

Unwilling to let Chloe go outside alone, I walked with her to the house next to ours, where we found the two dogs in the front garden, one sleeping in the kennel, the other digging a hole beside a rose bush, perhaps looking for a bone it had buried. It began barking loudly as we approached, but Chloe calmed it with a few quiet words, and knelt down to gently stroke the fur on its neck. She called the other dog over and began talking to the pair of them. I remained standing, looking in all directions for danger. Now that she was pregnant, my protectiveness of Chloe had become almost an obsession, and I knew I would give anything and everything on this Earth to keep her safe. It was my one great weakness; I knew it and the Professor knew it. My love for Chloe was the single most powerful feeling in my brain, and it would control me, overtaking every other instinct and desire if necessary. Given the choice between saving the world and saving Chloe, I knew which I would choose. It wasn't a choice I wanted to face, and right now my main aim was preventing that choice from ever becoming a reality.

"They're ready," Chloe said, patting the dogs one last time and rising to stand next to me.

"OK. I guess we can sleep secure."

"You nearly let slip to Felicity that I was pregnant," she chided me.

"Yeah, sorry. We'll need to tell them at some point. I mean, it will be visible after four or five months, so we can't keep it a secret for long."

"We will tell them. But not now. Not until this thing with Constantine is over. It's bad enough having you constantly worrying about me and the baby, without them doing the same thing. I have to tell you, Neil, I'm scared that you're going to be so concerned about my safety, that you won't be worrying enough about yourself, and Constantine will kill you. I _can_ look after myself, although you don't seem to realise it."

"I do realise it. It's just my instinct to protect you," I said. "And besides, it isn't just you I'm protecting now. It's our daughter, our future, too. It's the responsibility of both parents to look after the child."

"I suppose so. But Neil, promise me that you won't do anything stupid. Promise me that if it comes down to protecting me, or stopping Constantine from taking supreme power, you'll stop him."

"I can't promise you that."

"Neil!"

"Chloe, if you died, I wouldn't care about anything any more. The whole world could go to hell in a hand-basket for all I cared. I certainly wouldn't be sticking around to find out."

"You mean…you'd kill yourself?"

"Yes. Do you really think I could stand to live fifty or sixty more years without you?"

She looked into my eyes, her voice choked with emotion, "I don't want to think about that. I don't want to think about either of us dying. We're going to live through this, we're going to get married, we're going to have our baby and live together forever. Nobody, not Constantine, not Antaeus, not Magneto, not anybody is going to stop us."

I pulled her close to me and held her tightly, neither of us willing to let go of the other. We needed each other; we couldn't live without each other. Nothing was ever going to drive us apart. I would make sure of it.

The next day dawned dark and overcast, and I hoped it wasn't an omen for anything to come. I woke to find Chloe still asleep beside me, her arm over me. Gently lifting it aside, I got out of bed and went over to look through the window. The two dogs were still sitting in the garden next door, one asleep and one awake, and they appeared to be calm and unharmed. I could sense Chris and Felicity both asleep in the other bedroom, and I was relieved. Nothing had come to threaten us during the night. I pushed my telepathy out as far as I could, wondering if I could – and hoping I wouldn't – sense Constantine and his followers. No. There were no other mutants within a mile or so. Good.

I went downstairs and into the kitchen, deep in thought, trying to decide where I might search for the artificial mutation laboratory my father had used. The Professor would probably know where it was, but we couldn't seem to contact him right now. It had to be in Edinburgh, since I had been born here, and I knew my mutations had been given to me when I was only a few hours old. Then something occurred to me. Constantine had been born on the same day I had – the Professor had told me so – which meant he must have been implanted at the exact same time. Had our fathers been working alongside each other, each callously using his own son as an experimental subject? Had we been there together, beside each other, as babies? I doubted it. The Professor hadn't known about Constantine until recently, which meant he must have been somewhere different from me, or else hidden somehow.

I didn't really know where or how to start looking for the laboratory, so I walked into the living room to find the phone book. It seemed unlikely it would be listed there, but it was somewhere to start. I had three names to look for, the names of the three men who'd worked together on artificial mutation: Rosiçky, my father, who was dead; Van Gaarde, who had been imprisoned for life in the US; and Matthews, Constantine's father. I wondered where he was. I opened the phone book and started with my own name. Nothing; there were no Rosiçkys living in Edinburgh. I tried the business section. Nothing there either. I looked up Van Gaarde. I had no evidence that suggested he had ever lived in Edinburgh, so it was not much of a surprise when that came up blank also.

Matthews was a far more common name, and there were several of those in the residential section. Unfortunately, I didn't know the first name of Constantine's father, but I recognised the address of the Matthews estate; it was listed under 'Matthews, C'. I didn't know if that was the father or Constantine himself. It didn't really matter.

I tensed as I heard the sound of footsteps coming up to the front door, but then I heard the post-flap opening and closing, and I relaxed. It was only the postman. I went into the hall for the mail. There were two advertisements, which I binned; a bill, which I put aside for now; and a copy of the newspaper, which my granddad had subscribed to. I unfolded the paper and glanced at the headlines with idle interest. My eyes widened when I saw the main headline.

**NEW EVIDENCE IN MATTHEWS MURDER CASE**, it announced. I looked down at the article, and read through it: **Police have uncovered new evidence in the search for the murderer of Cornelius Matthews, the respected scientist who was killed in his Edinburgh home last month. A witness, as yet unnamed, has come forward with information which may have provided a definite identification of the killer. The witness describes seeing a mutant with gold eyes entering the Matthews estate on the day of the murder. Anybody who knows of such an individual should contact police immediately.**

Mr Matthews, who was stabbed to death in his study, was found by his only son Constantine, who, on the subject of this fresh evidence, had the following to say, "I hope that my father's killer can be brought to justice, and we can be spared from any more such horrific attacks. It's been a difficult time for me, but we will all be able to sleep safely again, once the murderer has been caught."

My blood ran cold. This man who had been murdered was the man who had worked with my father and Van Gaarde. He was Constantine's father. He had been dead for about a month, murdered…somebody had seen a mutant with gold eyes…I had gold eyes, but I hadn't killed him. I only knew of one other mutant with the same ocular mutation as myself, but he was dead. Was there another like me? Or…wait a minute…was this Constantine trying to frame me for murder? Could he have killed his father himself? I'd killed mine, so it wasn't impossible.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. The breakfast news was just coming on TV, and I hurried through to the living room to switch on the television. 

"Good morning," the news reporter was saying. "Police believe they have identified the man responsible for the murder of Cornelius Matthews. A witness, who wishes to remain anonymous for safety reasons, called them yesterday with a description of a mutant with gold eyes. This mutant is believed to be one Neil Rosiçky, a resident of Edinburgh, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. His motive for the killing remains a mystery, but a police spokeswoman has ensured the public that every possible step is being taken to protect Edinburgh from further mutant attacks, and that Rosiçky will be apprehended within days. Rosiçky's former girlfriend, a Miss Claire Stewart, identified him to police this morning. In other news…"

I switched off the TV and sank back into my armchair, struggling to take all of this in. Constantine's father had been murdered, and now I was being held responsible. This had to be Constantine's doing. Unable to track me down himself, he'd put the police on my trail instead. Now matters were much worse. I had to evade him _and_ the police, as well as finding this laboratory and destroying whatever equipment was inside. We couldn't get in touch with the Professor, which meant I was on my own. What should I do? I closed my eyes, calmed my mind, and tried to think logically. The first thing was obvious: I had to go alone. Both the police and Constantine were really only interested in me. They would leave my friends alone if I wasn't with them.

But what should I do? What _could_ I do on my own? My first priority had to be finding the laboratory. I didn't have much time before the police found me; my house would be one of the first places they would try. I had to destroy what was in the lab, kill Constantine, and prove my innocence of his father's murder. Preferably, but not necessarily, in that order. None of them would be easy. The Professor would vouch for the fact that I had been in New York at the time of the murder, but unfortunately I couldn't contact him right now.

Where should I look for the lab? The Matthews estate seemed like the best place to start. Hopefully I would find some clues there, or maybe the lab itself was actually inside the estate. Searching there while avoiding Constantine and the police wouldn't be easy, but it had to be done. I had to leave now, while my friends were still asleep. I grabbed my jacket from my bedroom, walking as quietly as I could to avoid waking up Chloe. I took one last look at her sleeping face – so angelic, so innocent – then I went back downstairs. I was about to leave the house when I realised I should write a note to explain where I was, otherwise my friends might panic and think I had been killed. I took a piece of scrap paper from the hall table and wrote on it: **I must go alone. Do not follow me. Think of Jacqueline for me.**

I had written that last bit so that my friends would know it was me who had written the letter, and know it wasn't a trick of Constantine's. He didn't know about Jacqueline. I placed the note at the bottom of the stairs where they would see it, then I opened the front door and left, closing it quietly behind me.

I retraced our steps of the previous day, back towards Constantine's estate. I could see evidence of the police's search for me: several police cars were driving around the neighbourhood, and a number of officers were on the streets. Nobody stopped to accost me. I knew they wouldn't have a recent photograph of me, since there weren't any, and I was wearing my sun-glasses to hide my gold-pupilled eyes. With luck, the police wouldn't be able to get a proper picture of what I looked like, unless Constantine pointed me out to them.

I was keeping my telepathic senses alert, constantly checking for the presence of any other mutants. As I left the house, I could no longer sense Chloe, Chris or Fliss, and for a while I was alone, the only mutant in my sensor radius. When I got closer to the estate, I could sense Constantine and the other three. They were together, inside the large manor building, and I looked around for a spot where I could hide and try to see what they were doing. Two or three large trees were growing just by the fence that surrounded the estate, and I headed over to them. I looked in the direction from which I sensed their presence, and forced my eyes to look through the fence. I could see inside the estate now; the courtyard, the scene of yesterday's battle, was empty. I zoomed in on the manor, and through the outer wall, homing in on the four of them. 

They were together in a large, furnished room, talking about something. Actually, Constantine was doing the talking and the other three were listening. This was the first chance I had to get a good look at Nightshade, while she wasn't using her invisibility. She was of medium height, about as tall as Fliss; her hair and her eyes were the same dark colour, and her face was expressionless. She wasn't unattractive, but she looked too cold and cruel to be the kind of woman I could fall in love with. I could tell that Constantine liked her, however, from the way he was looking at her. Also, from the way the four of them were seated – relaxed, not tense or ready for action – I deduced that this was going to be a long discussion. Hopefully I could sneak into the manor and have a look around for something that might lead me to the lab.

I brought my vision back to where I was standing, and looked around. There was nobody in sight, nobody to witness my slightly unconventional method of entrance. I raised both hands and levitated myself from the ground, over the fence, and down into the courtyard. It was the same way I had escaped yesterday; I hadn't thought I would be so eager to go back so quickly. I hurried across the courtyard towards the building, and paused by the door. They would probably hear it opening; if Ocelot possessed a feline sense of hearing, he definitely would. I looked around for another way to get in. There was a window half-open on the ground floor, slightly further along, slightly further away from my enemies, and I ran over to it. Gingerly pushing it slightly further open, I jumped up and climbed inside. 

Dropping to the floor of the room beyond as quietly as I could, I took a moment to get my bearings. This was a kitchen of some sort. Dirty plates and cutlery were beside the sink, and a half-empty bottle of milk stood on the worktop. I could hear Constantine's voice faintly from the room they were in, and I decided to move as far away as possible. The kitchen only had one door, which led out into a hallway, and I turned left to get away from them.

The next door on the right led into some kind of study. Constantine's father had been found dead in the study…I wondered if it was this room. For a moment I felt like I was playing Cluedo – Neil Rosiçky, with the dagger, in the study – then I walked over to the desk to look for anything that might be important. The desk was littered with papers, and I began flicking through them, looking for some mention of Cornelius Matthews' research into mutations, something that might mention where his laboratory was. None of it seemed useful. There were pages and pages of chemical formulae and complex equations that meant nothing to me; letters from Edinburgh University researchers; and a few scientific magazines. I decided to try somewhere else.

I left the study and continued along the corridor. Turning a corner, I found a staircase leading down. I went down, and found myself in some sort of basement area. A quick look around the room told me that there was nothing here. Nor were there any doors leading anywhere else, so I decided just to go back up, and headed for the stairs. Suddenly I stopped. Something wasn't right. There was something wrong down here. I had felt cold for a second…just for a second…when I had been walking towards the stairs. Slowly I went back to where I had been standing, and stopped when I suddenly felt cold once more. What was this? I touched the wall on my right. Was it my imagination, or did my eyes detect a slight variation in colour between this area, and the rest of the wall? Was that a draught I felt coming through? Was it in fact a door?

It was relatively simple to find out. I pushed my vision beyond the wall, and saw that it was indeed a secret door. There was a small corridor beyond, with a door on either side. I pressed my hands against the 'wall', trying to find some way open it. There had to be a switch or something, but I couldn't see it. Then I stopped. There would be an opening mechanism on the _other_ side as well, and it wouldn't need to be hidden, since it was in the secret area. I looked through the door once more, trying to see a switch that might open it. There – a small button by the door. I used my telekinesis to press it, and the door slid open silently in front of me. I walked through, pushing the button to close the door behind me.

My excitement growing, I knew this had to be it. This had to be the secret laboratory which my father, Van Gaarde and Matthews had used. In here I would find the experimental apparatus they had used to implant mutations in myself and Constantine, then later in Antaeus and the others. I pushed open the door on the left and looked inside. This appeared to be a store room, with bottles and boxes of chemicals and other equipment lining the shelves. This wasn't what I was looking for. I tried the other door.

Here it was. As soon as I saw it, I knew this was what I had been looking for. This room was huge, probably taking up most of the underground level of the manor, and its centrepiece was two huge machines, sitting side by side. I had no idea what either of them might be, and I walked over for a closer look. The first was like a metallic globe, about the height and width of a man, and appeared to be closed on all sides. My keen eyes spotted a panel on one side that slid open, and I took a look inside. The interior of the globe was an alcove in which a person might sit, with a small computer screen and a keyboard facing the seat. My curiosity piqued, I climbed inside and sat in the seat.

It was cramped inside – I was tall for my age – and I found myself looking at the computer screen. Experimentally I tapped one of the buttons on the keyboard. The screen suddenly came to life and welcomed me with the words, **PLEASE SELECT METHOD OF IMPLANTATION: DIRECT(D) OR INDIRECT(I)**

OK. That was weird. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something moving, and glanced down. From some hidden recess, a small device had appeared, and was positioned above my right arm. Its tip had a needle like a syringe, and it seemed to be connected to the rest of the machine somehow. Was it supposed to inject me something? Was that how a mutation implantation worked? Was it simply injecting extra DNA into the subject's blood-stream? I didn't know, and I wasn't keen to use myself as a test subject to find out.

Another message appeared on the screen: **FOR HELP PRESS (H).**

That sounded like a good idea. I hit the 'H' key. Words began to appear on the screen: **SELECT DIRECT(D) TO TRANSFER MUTATIONS FROM SUBJECT TO SELF. SELECT INDIRECT(I) TO SELECT MUTATIONS FROM LIST OF SAMPLES.**

That didn't help much. I didn't want any extra mutations, but I _was_ curious to find out what the 'samples' were. I hit the 'I' key. My heart quickened as I saw what appeared on the screen next:

****

SELECT MUTATION YOU DESIRE FROM LIST OF SAMPLES:

– TELESCOPIC AND X-RAY EYESIGHT (CHAMELEON)

– CAMOUFLAGE (CHAMELEON)

– FLAME BREATH (INFERNO)

– BERSERK ATTACK (INFERNO)

– TELEPATHY (MINDSTORM)

– TELEKINESIS (MINDSTORM)

– BODY STRENGTH (ANTAEUS)

– HEALING ABILITY (ANTAEUS)

– GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS (GRAVITUS)

This was it. This was the hub. This was where it had all started, where my father had begun his experiments. Chameleon, Inferno, Mindstorm and Antaeus were the four mutants who had worked for him, and these were the mutations each of them had possessed. This machine, or one like it, must have been what gave them their mutations. And me, the same thing must have happened to me. And Gravitus – that had to be Constantine. That had to be his mutant name.

I was beginning to get nervous of that syringe thing pointing at my arm, and I jumped out of the machine before it tried to inject me with anything. I closed the panel of the machine, and my heart began to slow as I got myself under control. This had to be destroyed. This machine and all of its samples, wherever they were. That would put an end to my father's legacy, and ensure the safety of my wife and child. I would destroy it along with everything else in this laboratory. Still curious, I walked over to see what the second machine was. It was similar in appearance to the first, but was lower and longer. It also had a panel that opened, and I looked inside. It was like the other, except the person inside would lie down instead of sit. Also there was no computer terminal inside, and there appeared to be restraints to tie somebody down.

I realised what it was for. One person would be restrained in the second machine, while another person went into the first machine. They selected a 'direct' method of implantation, and the mutations of the restrained person were implanted into their body. I supposed it would save time taking a sample of the other person's blood, and loading it into the machine. I had to find these samples, and make sure they were destroyed. I looked back at the first machine, and noticed a second panel in the back that I hadn't seen last time. I slid it open, and knew I had found what I was looking for. Fitted snugly inside were five test tubes, containing blood samples. I peered closely; the first was labelled **CHAMELEON**, the second **INFERNO**. The rest were guessable enough. I pulled out the test tubes and put them inside my jacket pocket while I explored the rest of the lab.

Over by the far wall was another large device, and I walked over, intrigued to find out what it was. It looked something like a very large filing cabinet, with four long compartments, and I wondered if it was a good idea to open it and find out what lay inside. There was a piece of paper lying on top of the machine, and I picked it up. It read: **CRYOGENIC FREEZING CHAMBERS MUST BE KEPT AT OPTIMUM TEMPERATURE AT ALL TIMES!**

So that's what this was. My curiosity overtook me, and I slid open the first compartment to see what was inside. My eyes widened and I gasped in shock, fighting the urge to retch.

Chameleon's dead body stared up at me, encased under a clear plastic shield, his gold eyes gazing sightlessly at the ceiling above. I shoved the compartment closed, unwilling to look at him a second more. This was one of the four psychotic mutants who had served my father and tried to kill me. I had seen him die, and I thought I would never see him again. What was he doing here in this cryogenic unit?

I slid open the second compartment, though I knew I would not like what I saw inside: Inferno, his body crushed nearly beyond recognition. I pushed it shut and opened the third: Mindstorm. A shiver of fear ran up my spine, and I pushed it closed quickly. Of all the mutants I had met, Mindstorm was the one I feared the most. Possessing telepathic power second only to the Professor's, and telekinetic power second to nobody's, she had proved a formidable enemy, but it wasn't just that which made me fear her. There was something else about her…she was just pure evil. She would torture a person for the fun of it. None of the other enemies I had faced had ever been like that. Even Constantine, Magneto or Rat had never been that bad. They might hurt or kill people, but they would only do it for a genuine purpose. Mindstorm would do it simply because she enjoyed it. I was glad she was dead.

I pulled open the fourth chamber, but wasn't surprised to find it empty. It was larger than the others, and it must have been designed for Antaeus. It was then that I noticed another machine, sitting up against the wall, looking like a larger version of one of the cryogenic chambers. I went over to get a closer look. It had a hinged top, and I lifted this off. Inside was enough space to accommodate a supine body, but nothing else. I frowned, wondering what this machine was used for. Did it have something to do with Antaeus coming back to life? Was it some kind of regeneration chamber? That sounded like pure science fiction, but I was in no position to know what was or was not possible with today's technology.

A horrifying thought occurred to me. If this _was_ a regeneration device, capable of bringing people back to life, then my worst nightmare could come to pass, and Mindstorm could return. The mere thought of her being alive once more, was enough to send a cold snake of terror slithering throughout my nervous system. I had just begun to think about how I might go about destroying this lab – there had to be some chemicals in that storeroom I could mix together – when I heard the sound of footsteps. Somebody was about to enter the lab. I'd been so intent in my exploration that I hadn't sensed their presence. Hurriedly I looked around for somewhere to hide; the implantation unit seemed the only place. As I ducked within it, and slid it closed from inside, I heard the door opening, and voices. In the darkness of the tiny chamber, the computer terminal provided the only light. I looked through the walls of the chamber to see who was there: Constantine and Nightshade.

"I still don't understand why you won't tell me what's going on here," Nightshade was complaining. "Or what any of these machines do. I am supposed to be your second in command, remember."

Constantine turned to face her, folded his arms and sighed, "All right, since you insist, here's your guided tour of my father's laboratory. There are three main objects of interest: first, on my right, the mutation implantation chamber – I've already explained to you what that does; second, facing me, the cryogenic freezing pods, where I'm storing those dead mutants my father brought back from New York."

"Have you been able to work out who they are?" she asked.

"No. Impervious can't tell me anything either. He's completely lost his memory. He doesn't know who he is or what's going on. He's stupid enough that I can manipulate him fairly easily, though. Anyway – third, on my left, the cloning chamber."

"Cloning chamber?"

"That's what my father called it. It's how he brought back Impervious."

Nightshade walked over and curiously touched the surface of the machine I had suspected of being a regeneration unit.

"What does it do, exactly?" she asked.

Constantine frowned, "I've been studying my father's notes, so I know how to use it, but apart from that my knowledge of it is pretty sketchy. Basically it will heal any organic life form which is placed inside. It uses the life form's DNA to replicate existing cells and repair any damage."

"It healed Impervious?"

"Yes. What I don't know is whether he was alive or dead when my father brought him back. It seems unlikely this machine could restore anyone from death, but I'm going to try it on one of these dead mutants."

"Why don't we try it now?"

"We can't. There are some unstable chemicals used in the machine, and we can't use it until they have fully cooled down from the last time it was used. It should be ready for use in another day or two."

Nightshade was still examining the machine, her back to Constantine, and his eyes were fixed steadfastly on her bottom, no doubt undressing her in his mind. She turned round and he brought his gaze back up to her eyes, lingering slightly on her chest as he went.

"So now you know what these machines do," he said. "Happy?"

"No! You still haven't told me what you're planning to do," she said. "I know you want to kill Oculus, so he can't stand in your way, but what exactly is he going to stand in the way of?"

"All right, I'll tell you. Currently there are very few mutants who are powerful enough to stand up to me. Oculus is one, and it's rumoured he has a mentor of some kind over in America. Anyway, within a year I plan to ensure there are none capable of matching me, not then, not ever. First of all I'll kill off any who try to oppose me. After that it's too much bother to go around the world killing a baby mutant every time a new one is born, so my plan is the somewhat simpler alternative: make myself so powerful, give myself so many different powers, that no natural-born mutant can ever match me."

"How do you do that?"

"The implantation chamber. I can use it to transfer the power of any mutant into myself."

"Why haven't you used it yet?"

"Because I'm not sure of the side effects. It did weird things to Impervious, and I want to test it before using it myself."

"Test it on who?"

"On one of Oculus' friends. I want at least one of them taken alive."

Nightshade nodded slowly, then her expression darkened and she looked at him suspiciously, "So how do I know you aren't just going to use this machine to transfer my powers to yourself, then kill me?"

"Because I need you," Constantine said. "I can't do everything myself, and I need people I can trust. Besides…I like you a lot."

Her eyes widened, "You do?"

"Come here," he commanded.

Nightshade obeyed, and Constantine took her by surprise, throwing his arms around her, pulling her towards him and kissing her furiously. 

"Damn, you're beautiful," he whispered.

She struggled for a moment, then relented, put her arms around his neck, and began kissing him in return. I could sense wild, animal passion flying back and forth between them, and I knew she was just as attracted to him as he was to her. Nightshade liked a strong man, a leader, and she was prepared to give herself to Constantine. He pulled her down on to the ground, and she lay atop him, the pair of them still kissing with an uncontrolled fury. It was at this point that I closed my eyes. I didn't really want to watch my two worst enemies making love on the floor a few feet away from me, and I was grateful when they were interrupted by a buzzing sound from the communicator on Constantine's belt.

"What is it?" he snapped impatiently into the communicator, then his tone changed. "They're here? Where's Oculus? He must be here somewhere. OK, Ocelot, we'll be right up."

"What's going on?" asked Nightshade, as she got to her feet, looking a little embarrassed.

"I'm not sure. Oculus' friends are here, but he doesn't seem to be with them."

"They must be staging a distraction so he can sneak in here," she said.

"Yes, my thoughts too. You go up and join Ocelot. I'll find Oculus. And Nightshade?"

Halfway to the door, she paused, "Yes?"

"We were interrupted, but we'll continue this later."

His eyes entranced by the seductive swaying of her hips, Constantine watched her go, then he turned back to the cloning machine, and seemed to be writing something on a small note pad. It was only then that I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief, but it wasn't really. I myself had escaped detection, but somehow the three of my friends had followed me here. Somehow they had managed to find out where I was going, and they'd done exactly what I was afraid of them doing: they'd come to help me. I could sense their presence, up in the courtyard; they were in the middle of a battle, presumably with Ocelot and Antaeus. And Nightshade was about to join them…she would make herself invisible, and my friends, not knowing she was even there, would be slaughtered. I had to get up there _now_ and help them fight her. There was just one problem: Constantine was between me and her, and I knew he would do anything to protect the woman he loved.


	8. Family Ties

Chapter Five: Family Ties

I knew that fighting Constantine would either get me killed, or delay me so much that I would be no use to those up above. I had to do something else. I pushed out with my senses, seeking my friends' minds, entering each of them in turn.

__

Chloe, Chris, Fliss, I telepathed to them_, it's Neil. I'm here, but I can't get to you right now. How are you doing?_

I read their thoughts for their responses, then re-transmitted to each of them. It was almost instinctive now, using my telepathy to allow my three non-telepath friends to communicate with each other via me.

__

We're doing all right, Chris was saying.

__

We've got those dogs I talked to last night, said Chloe, _they helped us track you here._

Of course. I should have known Chloe would find a way.

__

Nightshade is on her way up, I told them, _she'll be invisible, so I'll use my telepathy to let you 'see' her._

Where's Constantine?Fliss asked.

__

He's down here with me. He's the reason I can't get up there. I could fight him, but it would take too long.

Let us know when Nightshade gets here, said Chris.

I telepathed privately to Chloe, _can you get the baby's mind to sense Nightshade?_

She could do it, but I can't ask her to. She wouldn't understand, said Chloe.

__

OK. Good luck. Love you.

Love you.

By this time I had determined where they were relative to myself, and I pushed my vision through the walls to see what was happening. They were at the edge of the courtyard. Chris was leading Antaeus a merry dance, drawing him away from the others, though still unable to cause him any damage. Fliss and Chloe were concentrating on Ocelot, forcing him to dodge lightning bolts as well as the two bulldogs Chloe had brought with her. From what I had seen of him, Ocelot shouldn't have had any difficulty killing the two dogs, but he seemed reluctant to go near them. Perhaps, being part cat, he had a natural fear and dislike of canines.

__

Nightshade's arrived, I told them, _south-west corner of the courtyard. Fliss, I recommend you deal with her. Chloe should be able to handle Ocelot on her own._

Here I go, said Fliss.

I telepathed Nightshade's location to her as a steady stream of information, and she aimed a lightning bolt at the oncoming assassin. Nightshade was taken unawares, and had to dive to the side to avoid being electrocuted. Her invisibility was disengaged due to her surprise, and Fliss was able to fire at her once more. This time Nightshade was hit squarely in the chest, and she lay still. She wasn't dead; I could still sense her mind, but she had been knocked unconscious, and was not in a good shape, bleeding internally. Ocelot yelled to Antaeus and pointed at Nightshade, doubtless telling him to heal her, then he grabbed his communicator.

The communicator at Constantine's waist was buzzing, and he picked it up, "Yes? What?! Nightshade's _down_? I'm on my way!"

"You're going nowhere," I said, as I pushed open the implantation chamber door, and stepped out.

Constantine jumped, and swore, "Oculus! How the hell did you get in here?"

"X-ray vision…telekinesis…handy combination. I can't say I think much of your choice in women."

Hatred and anger crossed his face, "Did you enjoy watching us?"

"Not really," I said. "You've got a bit of a dilemma now, haven't you? Do you stay here and stop me from destroying your lab, or do you go up there and help your girl? She's dying, by the way."

"No," he said in disbelief.

"I'm afraid so."

"No!!" he yelled, lifting both arms, throwing me backwards.

I was caught by surprise, and I could do nothing to stop my flight, as I collided painfully with the wall, landing on the floor. I had no sooner come back to my senses when I was flung across the room once more, this time hitting the wall face first, crying out in pain, falling to the ground. My sun-glasses were smashed, the empty frame still hanging from one ear, as I tried to retaliate with my telekinesis. I managed to lift Constantine from the ground, but he was ready for me, and had already increased the gravity around himself, making it impossible for me to move him more than a few inches. I struggled to my feet, ignoring the pain in my back and my arms. Constantine raised both arms, and sent me flying into the side of the cryogenic chambers. This time I did not have the strength to stand. He smirked at me, then ran from the room, on his way to help Nightshade, confident that I was too weak and too injured to do any damage to the lab in his absence.

Either he'd forgotten or he didn't know about my healing power. I called on it to restore my body and relieve my pain, and I got to my feet to go after him. The laboratory and its contents still had to be destroyed, but I could come back and do that after I had helped my friends. I could sense Constantine ahead of me, heading up to the courtyard as fast as he could. I had to go after him and prevent him from killing my friends. I hadn't been able to see whether or not Antaeus had healed Nightshade, but if she was dead, then Constantine would not be in a merciful frame of mind. I'd overheard him saying he wanted one or more of my friends taken alive, but in his anger he might forget that.

He was clearly unaware I was back on my feet, and I was only a few yards behind him when he reached the courtyard. I blinked for a moment as the sunlight assailed my eyes, no longer protected by my sun-glasses, then I got a look at what was happening. Nightshade must have been healed, as she was back on her feet, and circling round slowly, trying to get near Chloe. She was not invisible, and I could only assume that gift did not work when she was experiencing shock, pain or stress.

Fliss was in trouble. Her right arm was hanging by her side, and I saw blood pouring from a deep wound near her shoulder. She was trying to hold off Ocelot by firing lightning bolts from her left hand, but she was naturally right-handed, and this was proving difficult. Chris was clearly trying to move over to help her, but at the moment his attention was amply filled by Antaeus. It was the same old story: quick, nimble Chris; and huge, brawny Antaeus, effectively cancelling each other out.

It was time for me to enter the fight, and try to swing it in our favour before Constantine could do the same. He was walking over towards Nightshade, calling, "Are you all right?"

"Fine!" she snapped. "That bitch electrocuted me! Even while I was invisible!"

"I'll kill her," Constantine growled.

Before he could use his power to harm Felicity in any way, I struck. In our time at the X-mansion, Wolverine had taught a class instructing us in various forms of unarmed combat, and it all began to come back to me as I ran at Constantine. Leaping forward from the ground, using my telekinesis to give me extra speed, I delivered a devastating spinning kick to the back of his neck, knocking him to the ground, hearing him cry out in shock and agony. I landed beside him and followed up by driving my elbow into his spine, hitting a nerve centre and temporarily paralysing him.

Nightshade gave a scream of rage and slashed at me with her poisoned blade. I leaned to one side; the silvery assassin's edge moving past me as if in slow motion, then I pushed her away from me with my mind power. She hit the wall of the manor building and struggled to get back to her feet. I was already running towards Felicity, who wasn't going to last much longer against Ocelot. Chloe was directing the two dogs to keep Nightshade busy, and my fiancée gave me a quick smile as I passed her.

"Fliss!" I yelled.

She was on her knees now, sobbing with pain, almost faint from the loss of blood in her arm, and Ocelot was closing in for the kill. I hoped I had enough telekinetic power left to do this. Constantine's attack down in the lab had taken a lot out of me, and although my healing ability could restore my body completely, it could do nothing to restore my mind. I was tired, drained, and I had to do this quickly. The last of my power swept out of me in a wave, hitting Ocelot and throwing him headlong across the open courtyard. Fliss sagged to the ground with relief, and looked over at me. 

"Are you all right?" I asked, kneeling by her.

She gave a nod, then her eyes rolled back and she promptly fell unconsciousness beside me. Blood was still pouring from the gash in her shoulder, and her skin was cold and pale. Fliss might die without prompt medical attention. I could heal her now, and try to finish the fight, but my telekinetic power was used up. Or we could run, taking her with us, and come back to finish this another time. I wanted more than anything – almost anything – to be able to settle the conflict here and now, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. Constantine would annihilate us. I needed time to recover my strength.

The sound of police sirens from outside the estate, getting louder and thus closer, finally made up my mind. I looked around for the others.

"Chloe! Chris!" I yelled. "We have to get out of here!"

Scooping Fliss up in my arms, I ran for the exit. I hadn't actually thought about how I was going to get past the huge iron gates, but when I looked up I saw they were already open. How had that happened?

"Fliss shorted the circuit that held them closed!" Chris yelled by way of explanation as he caught up with me.

Encumbered as I was by carrying the unconscious Felicity, I was quickly left behind as Chris surged ahead, and Chloe and the two dogs proceeded to overtake me. I chanced a glance back inside the courtyard, and relaxed. Our enemies weren't following. Nightshade was kneeling by Constantine, trying to get him on his feet, and Ocelot was picking himself up from the ground. Antaeus was giving chase, but he was even slower than my burdened self. We hurried through the gates and out of the estate.

Straight into the arms of the police. Six or seven cars were parked in a semi circle, blocking the road ahead, lights flashing, and at least a dozen police officers knelt or crouched behind them, all of them pointing guns in our direction. It was not usual for the Scottish police to be issued with firearms; obviously they were taking no chances against the gold-eyed mutant who had supposedly committed murder.

"Neil Rosiçky!" one of them yelled, as he saw my gold pupils. "You are under arrest for the murder of Cornelius Matthews! Give yourself up and nobody needs to get hurt!"

I had to make a split second decision. I knew I couldn't do anything to hurt the police officers; they were only doing their job; it wasn't their fault if they were acting on incorrect information. Our only option was to find some way of getting around them. I had to think of something. It was then that I noticed the police dogs, ten or more, barking loudly, straining against their leashes, being held back behind the line of police cars.

"Chloe!" I yelled. "The dogs!"

Chloe saw them and screamed, "Help us! Don't hurt them!"

The dogs pulled away from the policemen who were holding them, and leaped on to the backs of the gun-toting officers, pawing at their faces, knocking them off balance. The two bulldogs beside Chloe had joined in, tackling one particularly burly officer, forcing him to the ground.

"This way!" Chloe cried, pulling my arm, leading us away down a side street.

I followed her as quickly as I could, Chris running by me.

"Do you know where we're going?" I panted.

Chloe nodded, "This will lead us back to my house. We can hide there from the police."

We passed a group of wheeled dustbins, and Chris pushed a few of them over, to block any police officers who might try to follow us down the narrow road. I could hear the barking of dogs and the cursing of men's voices, and I guessed the police were still preoccupied with keeping the rogue animals under control. Chloe seemed to know exactly where she was going, and when I next looked back, there was nobody in pursuit. We emerged from the alleyway on to a wide, sunlit street, with large, detached brick houses on either side. So this was where Chloe had grown up.

"That's my house," she said, pointing to an attractive red-brick building on the left. "If my mum and dad aren't home, I've got a key that'll let us in."

We followed Chloe to the front door of the house, and she knocked three times on the door. Fliss still lay unmoving in my arms. She was slowly ebbing away, still losing blood, but once we got her inside the house, I could use my healing power and she would be restored. I looked up as I heard the door open.

"_Chloe_!!"

The middle-aged woman in the doorway had to be Chloe's mother, and she hurried forward to embrace her daughter, happiness and relief flooding out of her.

"I haven't seen you for so _long_!" the woman exclaimed, kissing the top of Chloe's head and holding her tightly. "I got all your letters! What's been happening to you?"

"It's a long story, Mum," said Chloe, resting contentedly in her mother's arms. "I'll tell you all about it. Oh, these are my friends: Neil, Felicity and Chris. Guys, this is my mother."

And my future mother-in-law, I thought. I nodded politely and smiled. 

"Is she hurt?" Chloe's mother asked, looking closely at Felicity. "She's bleeding! Oh, her _arm_! What happened? I'll call an ambulance!"

"No – Mum – you don't need to," said Chloe, putting her arm out to stop her mother. "Neil can heal her. Can we come inside?"

"Yes, of course," said Mrs Scott, turning back inside the house. "Brian! It's Chloe!"

We followed her inside the house, and Chloe led me upstairs to one of the bedrooms.

"This was my room," she said. "Put Fliss on the bed and do what you need to."

Gently I lowered Felicity down on to the soft duvet, and knelt beside the bed, placing my hands on her arm. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and used my healing. I felt the power flowing from my hands into Fliss' body, mending her injuries, closing that horrible wound, restoring the blood she had lost. She passed from unconsciousness into normal sleep, and I knew she was going to be all right. She would just need some rest. I stood up to face Chloe, who was looking around the room.

"Chloe, why did you come after me this morning?" I asked her. "I left a note saying I had to go alone. You could have been killed!"

Chloe sighed, "Neil, if I had disappeared and left a note saying 'I must go alone, do not follow me', would you do it, or would you come after me?"

"I'd come after you."

"Then don't you dare complain to me for doing the same thing!" she snapped.

I looked at the floor, and nodded slowly. She was right. I couldn't expect her to do what I wouldn't have done myself. Chloe's anger cooled, and she cast another look around the room.

"I can't believe it," she said. "The last time I stood in this room was the morning I got up to go to school…the day we were abducted…the day I met you…the day before we went to New York… I haven't been back since…it feels like a whole lifetime ago…"

I had a quick glance around the room, and wondered if it was typical of a teenage girl. A bed with a lilac duvet cover, a dressing table with makeup and other accessories, a wardrobe overflowing with clothes, posters blu-tacked on to the walls, and a small portable television sitting on a shelf attached to the wall.

"Like it?" Chloe said shyly. "Hey, we'd better get back downstairs. I need to talk to my parents."

We went back down to find her mother and father in the front room, talking to an uncomfortable-looking Chris. Chloe's father, a tall man with a moustache, looked up as we entered.

"Chloe!"

He hugged his daughter, holding her protectively by his side, and Chris looked at me, "Is Fliss OK?"

I nodded, "Fine. She's upstairs."

He disappeared to check on her, and I found myself under the gaze of both of Chloe's parents. Her father was first to speak, "You must be Neil."

"That's right."

"The one who's going out with Chloe?"

His tone was unfriendly, and his arms were still around Chloe, trying to keep a barrier between me and her. I knew it was nothing personal; it was simply the natural reaction of a father who didn't want any man involved with his daughter.

"Yes," I said.

He looked closely at me and his eyes narrowed.

"Gold eyes…" he muttered, then his eyes widened and he tensed, pulling Chloe further away from me. "You're that mutant they were talking about on the news! The murderer!"

Chloe struggled to free herself from her father's arms, "He didn't do it, Dad!"

"Chloe, run! I'll keep him away from you!"

"Dad!" Chloe cried. "He didn't commit murder! We've only been back in Edinburgh two days!"

"Then what happened? Who killed that man?"

"That's a long story," I sighed.

Chloe had broken free and went to stand beside me, holding my hand in hers. Her parents exchanged glances, then both of them gave me a suspicious, hostile look.

"Your other friends," her mother said. "Chris…and that girl, what was her name? They're mutants too?"

"Yes," Chloe said. "We attend a school together in New York, a school for mutants."

"A school for mutants? I don't understand. I've never heard of any such thing!"

"It's…it's kind of a secret. Listen, there really is a lot I have to tell you. A lot of it you won't like. I've been in dangerous situations, and I've met some really unpleasant people. In fact, most of what I have to say you probably won't like."

"Try us," said her mother. "You know there is nothing you can't tell your parents."

"Trust me, you won't like it," said Chloe. "First of all, Neil and I are engaged to be married."

Both adults reacted with shock.

"_What_?" her father shouted. "Chloe Scott, you are sixteen years old! Do you have any _idea_ what you are talking about?"

"Yes! Dad, I've changed since I was last here. I'm not a scared little girl any more. I'm a woman now; I've grown up and I've fallen in love. I know exactly what I'm talking about. We're going to get married."

Her mother seemed to have paled slightly, then said with an ironic smile, "Well, the rest of your story should be easy enough. I don't suppose you can tell us anything more shocking than _that_."

"Actually, I think I can," said Chloe nervously, her hand tightening around mine as she came to a decision. "I'm pregnant too."

This time her mother screamed, and her father's reaction was almost explosive.

"_Pregnant_?!" he roared, storming across the room to grip me by the shoulders. "_What have you done to my daughter_?!"

His hands moved to my throat and for a moment it seemed as if he were about to start throttling me. I tried to remain calm. I could have killed this man very easily, but I didn't. I endured his anger, and meekly bowed my head, "I'm sorry, Mr Scott. I know how you must feel."

"You have no idea how I bloody feel!" he yelled. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't phone the police right now and get them to come and arrest you for murder! Give me one reason!"

"Because he didn't do it!" Chloe protested, but he ignored her, centring his attention on me, his brown eyes boring into me almost like lasers, his fury still boiling furiously in him.

"Because it would break your daughter's heart, sir," I said quietly. "I know this isn't easy for you, but Chloe and I are devoted to one another. I love her, and I'll never leave her. I know we're both very young, but both of us are fully committed to each other."

His hands began shaking and he removed them from me, taking Chloe in his arms. His fury had burned up and dissipated, and he was in shock now, still coming to terms with the news. Chloe's mother had walked over to her daughter, and she looked at me, "You sound sincere, Neil. I hope you and Chloe can be happy together, but I'll tell you one thing: if you ever do anything to hurt her, you'll be sorry."

"I'd expect that," I said. "You don't have to worry. Chloe is more important to me than anything."

She shook her slowly, "Chloe, pregnant…I can't believe it…do your parents know about this?"

"My parents are dead," I told her. "That's a long story too."

Both of them held Chloe in a tight, loving embrace, and as I looked on, I felt a pang of jealousy. Jealousy for the warm, caring mother and father I had never had. My mother had died giving birth to me, and my father – well, the less said about my father, the better. My grandparents had done their best to be substitute parents, but nobody could truly do so. I envied Chloe, who had something I had never had, and never would have. It only increased my determination to ensure that my own daughter, growing inside Chloe, was given the loving paternal care I had never received.

My telepathic power was returning, and I could sense my daughter's mind, anxiously questing outwards, worried by the two strange people who were making such close contact with Chloe's body. I reached out with my mind to reassure her, and she was calmed when she sensed me – her father – sending my love. As yet she had no way of knowing that the two strange people were in fact her grandparents. Chloe's parents sat her down on the sofa and she began to tell them some of the things that had happened to her during the four months she had been away. I noticed she left out some of the more horrific and frightening details, and I was glad she made no mention of our current plight. If her mum and dad were told about Constantine, they would insist on fulfilling their parental role as guardians. It would be impossible to convince them that they could do nothing against our enemies, and they would be killed. I trusted Chloe not to tell them anything they shouldn't hear, and I decided to go upstairs to see how Felicity was doing.

When I got to the bedroom, she was still asleep, and Chris was sitting beside her, holding one of her hands.

"What's going on down there?" he asked when he saw me. "I heard shouting."

"Oh, Chloe's dad thought I was the murderer the police are looking for."

"Everything's OK?"

"I think so. I think Chloe managed to convince them I'm innocent."

"Good. So – what's our next move? Do we stay here and hide from the police? Or do we make another move against Constantine?"

"I'm trying to think what's best," I said. "In the basement of Constantine's manor, I found the laboratory where my father worked on his mutation implant research. The machines that make it work are down there. And there are…other things…down there too."

"What other things?"

"Something Constantine called the 'cloning machine'. I overheard him talking to Nightshade about it. It can use your DNA to clone your cells and repair any damage to your body – or something like that. He didn't sound very clear on it either. He wants to test if it can bring people back to life."

"Oh, come on," said Chris. "That's impossible."

"I'd have said so too," I agreed. "But he said it brought Antaeus back, and we're pretty certain he was dead."

"Who's he going to test it on?"

"That's the next thing I was going to tell you about," I said. "The other thing I found in the laboratory was a set of cryogenic freezing chambers, with three dead mutants inside."

"Who were they?"

"Some old friends of ours."

He groaned, "Not Mindstorm and the gruesome twosome?"

"I'm afraid so."

I'd forgotten that Chameleon and Inferno had been twin brothers. Chris frowned and said, "So either Antaeus didn't die, and this machine merely healed the damage done to his body; or he did die, and this machine raised him from the dead. Do _you _think it can bring back the dead?"

"I don't see how it could. I dare say it could restore their bodies perfectly, but you can't restore a consciousness. Only God can do that."

Chris snorted, "I don't believe in God."

"Then what do you believe in?"

"Luck hasn't failed me yet."

I was going to reply, when Felicity stirred. Her right arm, the one I had just healed, twitched, and her lips moved. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and her right hand thrust out to grab me.

"Fliss? Are you OK?"

She blinked, and let go of my hand, "Yeah. Where am I?"

"Chloe's house."

"Did we get away from them? Where's Chloe; is she OK?"

"She's fine. We're all fine. How do you feel?"

Fliss brought her left hand up to touch her right shoulder, feeling the renewed, healthy skin through the huge tear in her T-shirt.

"My arm…" she said. "But it was all open and bleeding and horrible…Ocelot stabbed me…there was blood everywhere…now it's closed up again…I don't understand!"

"I healed you," I said. "You're going to be all right."

Fliss looked up at me and smiled, her eyes shining with gratitude.

"There's this wonderful warm feeling inside me," she said. "What is it? Is that your power?"

I nodded, "That's what it feels like in the aftermath of my healing. It's the last remnants of the curative moving around your bloodstream."

Felicity smiled once more and her eyes didn't leave mine. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, and eventually Chris gave a not very subtle cough, "Um, Fliss, I'm over here."

She looked over, "Hey, Chris. What's up?"

"We were just discussing what we were going to do next, when you woke up," he said. "Neil, what were you going to say?"

"Um," I tried to remember. "Oh, yeah, the lab. Yeah, we have to destroy the lab and everything in it, all of my father's research. I was trying to think of a way to destroy it, when I had to hide from Constantine."

"We could use a bomb or something," suggested Fliss.

I looked at Chris, "Do you know where we could get hold of explosives?"

"Yeah. My cousin could probably get us some. He's got a few contacts down at the docks."

"When can you meet him?"

"Today, if I tell him it's urgent."

"Could you? We have to destroy what's in the lab before Constantine tries to use any of it. I think he's going to try using the cloning machine within the next couple of days. I know, it probably won't work for him, but still, it's too risky to let him try it. I'm trying hard not to think of the world with Mindstorm in it."

"I guess you're right," Chris said. "OK, I'll get on to my cousin. I'll ask Chloe's mum and dad if I can use their phone. I'll need to go down to the docks and meet him there."

"I'll come with you," said Fliss. "You might need some backup."

"Fine. Neil, what about you?"

"I think I'd better stay here," I said. "The police will still be looking for me, so I can't really go out anywhere. And this house is quite close to Constantine's estate, so I can try and keep an eye on him too."

"What do you think he's going to do?"

"I overheard him talking, and his plan seems to be to implant himself with as many mutations as he can," I said. "But he doesn't want to use the implantation machine without testing it on somebody else first. He was planning to capture one of us to test it on. So, until we next encounter him, I'm not sure what his plans are."

Chris shrugged, "No use speculating, I suppose. I'll go down and ask if can use their phone."

He walked to the door, closed it behind him, and I heard him going down the stairs. I was now alone in the room with Fliss. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, and seemed to be testing her legs to see if they could support her. Perhaps she was still feeling a little light-headed from loss of blood. She stood, swayed a little, and lost her balance, falling into my arms in a supposedly innocent manoeuvre. 

"Are you all right?" I asked her, trying to help her back on to her feet.

Fliss had her hands on my shoulders as she regained her balance, but instead of removing them and standing by herself, she moved closer towards me, until her arms encircled my neck. Before I could give this strange behaviour any thought, Fliss had thrust herself forwards, and was kissing me passionately, her body trembling, her emotions going crazy. I struggled with her and she broke away, but didn't let go of me.

"What are you _doing_?" I demanded.

"That was to say thanks for saving my life," she whispered, pulling me towards her again. "And this…this is because I love you."

Felicity kissed me again, her lips pressing tightly against mine, desperate desire pouring out of her; wild, uncontrollable passion filling every last fibre of her being. It was incredible, so different from the way it felt when Chloe kissed me. The temptation to reciprocate, to put my arms around Felicity and kiss her as she was kissing me, was overwhelming. I struggled, but I resisted. This was wrong. This should not be happening. This love should not be. I pulled away from her, and held her at arms' length.

Fliss looked up into my eyes, and her lower lip trembled. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she cried, "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was doing. I – I don't know what to say. I'm really sorry, I – "

She turned and fled from the room, hopelessly confused and lost in her own feelings. For a moment my thoughts were caught up in a whirlwind, then they began to settle down, and I tried to come to terms with what had just happened. It was amazing. I'd never suspected she had any romantic feelings for me at all. I'd always thought she was pretending to flirt with me just to annoy Chris. Was she instead trying to show her admiration for me, but wasn't sure how to do it? Was that why she had kissed me so suddenly and impulsively just now? Or was she just mixed up and confused in the aftermath of being healed, thinking she loved me when she was just reacting to the man who had saved her life? I didn't know. There was no way I could know without talking to her about it.

In other circumstances – meaning if I hadn't already been in love with Chloe – I would have quite happily returned Felicity's kiss, and perhaps fallen in love with her. I hoped Felicity hadn't set her heart on winning mine, as there was no way she could have it. Chloe already held the key to my heart. I shook my head slowly as I thought about what had just happened. I really didn't understand girls sometimes. I went downstairs to find Chloe.

Chris was in the hallway, and he looked up as I descended the stairs. Fliss was standing close to him, and she turned away red-faced when I looked at her.

"We're just on our way to meet my cousin," said Chris. "I phoned him, told him it was an emergency, and he agreed to get what we needed."

"Good work," I said. "Does your cousin know you're a mutant?"

"Are you kidding? Of course not. My cousin's a criminal. If he found out about my power, he'd force me to use it to help him in one of his 'jobs'. He's family, but that doesn't mean I can trust him completely."

"Come on, let's go," said Fliss, avoiding my eyes.

She obviously wanted to get away from me as quickly as she could, to have some time to try and sort herself out. She pulled Chris towards the front door, and the two of them left. I went back through into the front room.

"…and I thought I was going to die," Chloe was saying to her parents. "But Neil saved my life. He healed me."

"How?" said her mother. "And what about that girl Felicity? When you came into the house, her arm was cut right open and bleeding all over the place, but when she came down the stairs a minute or two ago, her arm was completely mended! She didn't even have a bandage or anything!"

"Neil healed her," Chloe said.

"How?" her mother repeated.

"It's a – gift – I have, Mrs Scott," I answered. "It's one of my mutations."

"I see. Neil, I'm going to be frank with you. When I first set eyes on you, I didn't like you much at all. I've nothing against mutants, of course – my own daughter is one – but there was something about you that made me nervous. I thought you would hurt Chloe and take advantage of her. When she told us she was pregnant, I thought my fears were confirmed. But what she's just told us – and the way you've acted while you've been here – tells me I was wrong. I can't consider you solely on appearance. I'm sorry I misjudged you. I'm not happy about Chloe getting engaged or becoming pregnant as young as she is, but at least I know you will always be there for her, and will treat her with love and respect."

I didn't say anything. Even though we were both of an age where we could do what we liked, I could tell Chloe badly wanted her parents' approval of the life and the man she had chosen. She smiled in response to her mother's words, and turned to face her father, "What do you think, Dad?"

He looked at her, then at me, "I'm not pleased at all, Chloe. I haven't been pleased since the day you left here. I never saw any reason why being a mutant should stop you from leading a normal life. It was my intention to see you finish school here, go to university to get a degree, then find a good job. Having a baby before your eighteenth birthday was not the vision I had for my daughter!"

"But Dad, I'm happy! Isn't that the most important thing?"

"Happy? How are you going to raise that baby? Where are you going to live? Where's Neil going to get a job? How are you going to afford it?"

Chloe looked at the floor unhappily. Clearly neither of us had given any of those issues any thought. I wasn't planning to worry about it until our battle with Constantine was over.

"We'll find a way," I said. "I don't mean to be rude, Mr Scott, but Chloe has to lead her own life. She can't have other people living it for her. She's told me that often enough."

Chloe smiled. Her father glared at me.

"I know what you're thinking," I said. "You're thinking that I'm stealing your daughter away from you while she's still your little girl."

"How did you know that?!" he demanded.

"I'm telepathic, sir," I said simply. "You've got nothing to worry about. I'm not stealing her away. She'll still be your daughter, no matter what happens. I'll never try to stop her from being your daughter."

"Well, I – " he began, still knocked by the fact I had read his mind and told him exactly what he was thinking. "I – I don't know what to say. If you are what Chloe says you are, I know she isn't making a mistake. But just remember: I'm her father and I'll always be her father. If you treat her badly, I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

I knew there was nothing he could do that would hurt me. It was a meaningless threat, yet I respected it nonetheless.

"I understand, sir."

Chloe's parents watched, somewhat happier and more relieved, as their daughter stood to join me, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me fondly. It was a different kind of kiss from the one I had received from Felicity, but it felt better. It was pure, selfless, caring love, not the wild, excitable passion that I had felt from Fliss. I returned Chloe's kiss, holding her tightly, and I sensed the mind of our daughter; contented at feeling her mother and father together in this way. It was incredible to think that in nine months or less, the baby would be born, would no longer be just a mind, but a body also. There was only one thing that stood between us and that happy day: Constantine and his murderous band. Once we had defeated them and destroyed everything in the underground laboratory, I knew that our fight would be over. After that we could devote our lives to raising our family. Nothing was going to come between us and our future together. Constantine's days were numbered. He would be our last enemy, and this would be our last battle.


	9. Nightmare Reborn

Chapter Six: Nightmare Reborn

It wasn't until later that night, after Chloe's mother had invited us to stay for dinner, that Chris and Felicity returned. Fliss seemed to have calmed, and she managed to look me in the eye without blushing or flinching. Chris was carrying a package under his arm, and I assumed these were the explosives his cousin had promised to give him. Chloe hurried him upstairs before her parents saw the package, and they stashed it in her bedroom. I went up to join them, and Felicity, after a moment's hesitation, followed me.

Once the four of us were inside the bedroom, Chloe pushed the door shut and said, "Talk quietly; my mum and dad might overhear."

"What do you have there?" I said to Chris, who was sitting on the bed, unwrapping the parcel.

We gathered round as he lifted out three small explosive devices, "My cousin said three should be enough."

"How powerful are they?" Fliss asked.

"Powerful enough," said Chris. "To be honest, I don't know. My cousin assured me these would do the job, and he's got no reason to lie to me."

"Do you know how to use them?" I said.

"Yeah, he's shown me before. Attach the plastic explosive and connect it to the detonator. They're triggered by remote control, so we can set them off as we soon as we get to a safe distance."

"When are we going to do this?" said Fliss.

"Tonight," I said. "Once Chloe's mum and dad go to sleep, we'll sneak out and go to the estate. I can remember the way down to the lab…we set the explosives, then get out. Constantine won't be pleased; with luck, we can use that to our advantage, and finish him once and for all. Once he's dead, and the stuff in the lab is destroyed, it's over."

"What if there's somebody guarding the lab?" Chloe asked. "He knows you got in before, so he's probably wary now."

"That's possible," I said. "All right, if there's someone on guard, we take them out, as quietly as we can. Unless it's Constantine himself, in which case we may need to rethink the plan. Alternatives might include distracting him in some way, or finding another way into the lab."

"We ought to split up, in case we get trapped," Fliss suggested. "If we go in a group, we might get surrounded."

I frowned, "Well, Chris has to go into the lab, since he's the only one who knows how to use the explosives. As for me, I need to be where I can intercept Constantine."

"I'll go with you," Chloe said – it was a statement, not a suggestion or a request.

Fliss glared hatefully at Chloe, "Can't you look after yourself? Has he got to hold your hand all the time?"

Chloe blinked, confused and a little hurt. I looked at Felicity. She was avoiding my eyes, and looked at the floor. I wasn't sure what had provoked that little outburst. Jealousy perhaps?

"So what are you gonna do, Fliss?" Chris asked, oblivious.

"I'll go with you, I guess," she said without enthusiasm.

"All right," I said. "I'll stay awake tonight and wake you all when it's time, so you can catch a little sleep if you like. Chris, since we're such perfect gentlemen, I'm assuming we'll sleep downstairs tonight, and let the girls have this room."

"I don't want to share with her," said Fliss. "I'll sleep downstairs."

I shrugged, "OK. Chloe, is it all right if I share with you?"

"Of course. We are en – in love, after all."

Quick recovery. She'd been about to say 'engaged'. It wasn't time to tell Chris and Fliss about that yet.

A few hours later, and all was quiet. From the light of the bedside lamp, I glanced at the clock. 3am. Chloe, lying awake beside me, whispered, "Are they asleep yet?"

I projected my senses out towards her parents' room, and nodded, "Yup. We'll need to move quietly though."

We got out of bed, both still fully dressed, and I grabbed my jacket from where I had left it on the back of Chloe's chair. As I was putting it on, my arm brushed against an unfamiliar weight in the inside pocket. I frowned – I couldn't remember keeping anything in there – and put my hand to find out what it was. My heart almost skipped a beat, as my fingers brushed against the cold glass surface of the five test tubes. I pulled one of them out.

"What's that?" Chloe hissed.

I glanced at the label on the side of the test tube: **GRAVITUS**. So this was Constantine's own blood sample. I'd completely forgotten that I'd taken these out of the implantation machine in the laboratory. 

__

They're from the machine in Constantine's lab, I telepathed, deciding silence was the best option just now, _I think the machine can take the mutations from a blood sample, and implant them a person's DNA_.

__

Would that work? Chloe was thinking.

__

I don't know if that's exactly how it works, I said,_ it took my father sixteen years to perfect the process, so it must be a bit more complicated than that._

Why do you have them?

To stop Constantine from using them, of course. Without them it means he can't implant himself with any new mutations. Unless…

Unless what?

I forgot there's another way the machine can work. If you put a second person inside, it will transfer their mutations to the person who's using it.

That's why he wants to capture us alive. So he can steal our mutations.

Probably. Another reason for us to destroy the lab. Come on, we'd better not waste any time. Let's go and wake Chris and Fliss.

As we left the bedroom, treading as quietly as we could, I felt Chloe tapping my arm, and I looked round to see her pointing to her head. For a moment I didn't understand what she wanted, then I realised she was asking me to read her mind. It was too risky to talk out loud, so this was the only way to communicate. I read Chloe's mind, and her thoughts popped into my head.

__

Why was Felicity acting like she hated me? Chloe asked.

I hesitated in replying, _Chloe…something happened. Something I don't really want you to know about._

I thought we had no secrets from each other!

__

We don't. That's why I'm going to tell you.

So what happened?

__

Felicity kissed me.

She what?!

__

Right after I healed her arm. She grabbed me and kissed me on the mouth.

Chloe was shocked, _But why would she do that?_

I don't know. Maybe she's fallen in love with me.

So she hates me because she wants you, and I'm in her way.

Possibly. I don't know. Chloe…what she did, kissing me, it doesn't change anything. I still love you. I still want to be your husband.

I know. It hasn't changed anything for me either. I still want to be your wife.

We had reached the bottom of the stairs, and I went into the living room. Chris was reclining in the armchair, snoring loudly enough that it was a wonder Chloe's parents were still asleep. Fliss was curled up on the sofa, her chest rising and falling rhythmically, but making no sound. For a moment I let my eyes rest on the sleeping Felicity, admiring her long, blonde hair; her gorgeous visage; her perfectly shaped, proportioned figure; her long, slim legs; a body that had passed out of childhood, and was about to enter womanhood. She was a vision of beauty, and, like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, one I could not have.

I put my hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake. It took a moment or two before she gave a sharp intake of breath and her eyes snapped open. She looked up at me, giving me a cute but uncertain smile. I put my finger to my lips, and she nodded. Fliss stretched her arms, put her feet on the floor and stood. I walked over to Chris, marvelling once more at the loudness of his snoring. Idly I considered that if I had a death duel with Constantine in this very room, we'd probably still be drowned out by Chris. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he awoke instantly.

Chloe was waiting outside in the hall, holding the package of explosives, which she passed to Chris. I opened the door as quietly as possible, and we filed out into the darkness of the night. Chloe shut the door behind her, and we hurried away from the house, into the street, in the direction of the Matthews estate. Fortunately there was nobody else about at this time of night, nobody to enquire what four teenagers with three explosive devices wrapped up in brown paper might be planning to do. I was counting on police presence to be sufficiently low as to not be a problem.

When we got closer to the estate, I began to push my senses out, trying to pinpoint the location of our enemies as accurately as I could. I frowned. Something was wrong. Something…didn't feel right. Chloe saw my look of confusion, and whispered, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I'm trying to use my telepathy to locate them. I can sense Constantine's presence, but it's weird. He feels…different…somehow. Different from before. I can detect him by his brain pattern, and it isn't the same as before. It's definitely him, but it's changed slightly."

"Weird," Fliss agreed.

"And I can't sense Antaeus anywhere."

"Maybe they've sent him out with a job to do," Chris suggested.

"I suppose that must be it," I agreed.

"Where are they, exactly? Is anyone guarding the lab?"

"I don't know. I'd need to get closer before I can pinpoint them that closely."

It got me thinking. If Antaeus _had_ been sent out with some task to accomplish, what was it? Did it involve us in any way? Had he been sent out to find us? What if Constantine had found out where my house was, and sent Antaeus to find us? No, that didn't sound right. Antaeus alone would have stood no chance against the four of us, and Constantine knew that. He'd have gone himself if he wanted to confront us. It had to be something else. I couldn't think what it might be, and eventually I just shrugged to myself. It could be anything. Antaeus might have been sent out to an all-night takeaway for some food, for all I knew. Even bad guys had to eat. Still, it wouldn't do to have him return and catch us unawares. We'd have to keep an eye out for him. Currently his absence meant that any potential battle would be swung in our favour.

We were now standing outside the gates of Constantine's property, and I concentrated once more. Good, I was now close enough to get an idea of where each of our enemies was located.

"They're all in bed upstairs," I said. "Ocelot's sleeping. Constantine and Nightshade are together, they're…um…not sleeping. I think they're a bit too preoccupied to hear anything, though. Let's go."

I tried the gates. We were in luck; they pushed straight open. Obviously the electronic circuits that held them closed had still not been repaired after the electric pulse Felicity had given them yesterday. The others followed me inside, and we moved through the darkness and the silence towards the manor building. The windows and doors were closed and, I imagined, locked. I would need to find another way in this time. Chris, however, was already a step ahead of me. Standing by the front door, he changed to liquid, and seeped through the tiny gap between door and frame. We waited a few moments as he re-coalesced, then the door was unlocked and unlatched from inside, and Chris let us in.

"All right, Neil, lead the way," he hissed.

I thought I remembered the route to the lab, but after one wrong turn, I realised I was mixed up somewhere. Fortunately, the next turn I tried took us straight to the staircase that led down to the basement. We went down, and I approached the false wall. As before, I looked through it, and used my mind power to hit the switch that opened it. The door slid open silently, and we went inside. I led them through the door to the right, into my father's laboratory.

"Here we are," I said. "Let's get to work. Chris?"

He unwrapped the package that held the explosives, and moved towards the implantation machine to place the first charge.

"What do these machines do?" Fliss asked curiously.

"I thought I told you earlier," I said, but gave her a brief description of each of them anyway.

Chris had placed the first explosive on the side of the implantation chamber, and moved over to the cryogenic freezing pods, where he placed the second charge. Fliss, being Fliss, couldn't help wandering over towards the implant chambers to take a look inside. It was the second machine she tried first – the machine in which would be restrained the mutant whose powers were to be transferred – and I felt the shock registering in her mind, just before I heard the noise that came from her throat, halfway between a gasp and a scream. Chris instantly looked over to see what was wrong.

"Look!" Fliss gasped, pointing at the machine. "In there!"

The three of us went to her side to look.

Antaeus.

He was lying inside the second machine, clearly dead, the restraints needlessly holding him down, one of the syringe-needle things still stuck inside his upper arm. This, then, was why I hadn't been able to sense him. The dead could not be sensed by my telepathy.

"What happened to him?" Chloe asked in shock.

For a moment I was too confused and surprised to think, and I just stood staring at the mammoth corpse inside the machine. It didn't make any sense. Why would Constantine kill one of his underlings? Could they have had an argument? Surely he wouldn't have killed Antaeus…after all, Antaeus was the only one in Constantine's group who possessed a healing ability, something Constantine couldn't afford to throw away. No, there had to be something else to it. For a start, why was Antaeus inside the secondary implant chamber?

Then it hit me, "Constantine must have used the machine. He must have transferred Antaeus' powers to himself."

"Of course," said Chloe.

"He must have wanted to make himself stronger," I said. "He must have decided he couldn't wait until he caught us. Maybe he thought we were too dangerous and he had to become more powerful. Antaeus must have died in the process…or maybe Constantine killed him because he thought he didn't need him any more."

Therein lay one of the differences between Constantine and myself. In many ways we were the same: both used in our fathers' experiments, both implanted with mutations as new-born babies, both unaware of the truth about our past until we were in our late teens, both angry at our fathers (had Constantine killed his?), both now grown into immensely powerful individuals, both determined to destroy the other.

But that was where the similarities stopped. Constantine wanted me – and any other mutant who might pose a threat – dead, so he himself could rise to power. I had never wanted to kill anybody unless I had no choice. He was on the side of evil, fighting solely for personal gain and power. And me? I wasn't sure I was entirely on the side of right, but I was certainly fighting for what I thought was right. I didn't want to have supreme power or reign on high, but I had to make sure that Constantine – and anyone else for that matter – couldn't. No matter what their intentions, they would eventually be corrupted by their power and start to misuse it.

I looked down at the dead figure of Antaeus once more. Constantine had used him, and killed him, for his own selfish purposes. Another difference between us. I valued my friends – Chloe, Chris and Felicity – for who they were, not for the powers and skills they brought to the group, or how I might use them to my own advantage. Yes, I was more powerful than all three of them put together…but that most certainly did not give me the right to act as if I owned their lives. 

The temptation to misuse my gifts, to think only of myself and not of others, was always there. A day did not go by when I didn't consider what life might be like if I changed my mind, and began using my powers to further my own desires. It was an attractive prospect, being the world's most powerful man, to be able to do whatever I liked to whoever I liked, to shape the world and its future the way I wanted. I could be an emperor, an emperor controlling the entire planet, just as Constantine wanted to be. And I could have Chloe by my side – 

– but Chloe would not want that. Chloe didn't want to be an emperor's wife, and bear an emperor's heir. She just wanted to be who she was. She did not care how powerful I was or became, she loved me for what I was like as a person. And that, above all else, was the reason why I did not give in to temptation. There was simply no need to put myself forward as some kind of god. I already had everything I wanted: the girl who had agreed to be my wife, and the daughter she would bear. That was enough to make me happy. Once Constantine was out of the way, I would forget about everything, and settle down to start a family with Chloe. Thinking about Constantine brought me back to reality: Fliss was saying something…

"So Constantine stole Antaeus' powers?" she asked. "Exactly what powers did Antaeus have?"

"He had the same healing power as I do," I said. "My father tested it on me before giving it to Antaeus. He also had superhuman body strength, including immunity to pain."

"So Constantine has those powers now?"

"If it worked…yes."

"As if he wasn't powerful enough," Chris muttered.

"Can we still destroy him?" Chloe asked nervously.

"We have to believe we can," I said. "It will be more difficult…much more difficult…but we have to believe in ourselves. If we lose our belief, we lose everything."

Chris nodded his agreement, and Chloe looked slightly more confident. Fliss was still looking down at Antaeus' dead form, her eyebrows knit together in thought.

"Neil," she said. "You've never really explained this to me properly. You say your father tested these mutations on you before giving them to Antaeus?"

"Yes. He used me to test whether his experiment would work. He implanted me with my mutations, saw the procedure had worked, but realised he had made me too powerful. He didn't want me as a potential rival when I grew up, so he tried to kill me. The Professor stopped him, took me to live with my grandparents, and you know the rest."

"So the mutations Antaeus had – and the ones Chameleon, Inferno and Mindstorm had – you've got too, because they were tested on you first?"

"Yes. Some of them I can't actually use – they're dormant. My body accepted some and rejected the others – now those ones are just flowing around uselessly in my bloodstream."

"What are you talking about?" said Chloe. "You've never told me this. I didn't know you had dormant mutations."

"The Professor and I talked about it recently," I said. "You remember how Chameleon could camouflage himself? And how Inferno could breathe fire? Those are two mutations that my father implanted in me, but my body rejected, and hence I've never been able to use them. Antaeus' body strength mutation is another one."

"How do you know all this?" Chris asked. "How do you know you've got them if you can't use them?"

"Because, logically, my father would have tested them on me before using them on anybody else. Once we realised that, I gave the Professor a sample of my blood and he analysed it. There are eight mutations detectable in my bloodstream, only five of which I can actually use."

"So the other three are just completely useless?" Fliss asked.

"Not necessarily. If I had any children, they might inherit them, and be able to use them."

Chloe looked up at the mention of children, and her hand unconsciously moved to touch her abdomen. She was doubtless thinking about the baby inside, and the powers it might have inherited from either of us. We already knew that telepathy was one of them. I was looking forward to having the opportunity to find out what, if any, others there were, as our child grew up. 

It was then that I was aware of the noise in the background. I looked up, trying to work out where it was coming from. Then I realised it wasn't a noise that had grabbed my attention; it was in fact the absence of a noise that had been there before: a quiet, subtle noise that I only now noticed because it had stopped. Then there came another sound from behind me, and I turned around. What was it? Where was it coming from?

It was the cloning machine. What was it doing? It must have been running in the background while were in the lab. Now the noise it had been making had just stopped. I moved nearer to the machine to try and see what was happening. The hatch on top was closed, and the machine was silent. Cautiously I took a step closer, and put out my hand to touch it, when something happened. I jumped back in surprise as the hinged top of the chamber began to rise, and a white gas of some kind rose from within, obscuring my vision.

Felicity gasped, "Oh my…I think there's somebody _in_ there!"

I had instinctively moved away from the machine when it began to open, and I leaned forward slightly to peer within. As the gases began to clear, there was plainly a naked figure lying inside the machine. I pushed my senses out to check whether or not they were alive. Yes – I could sense a consciousness – the person was alive.

"Who is that?" said Chloe. "What are they doing in there?"

I felt a horrible sense of dread beginning to permeate my heart. Was it my imagination overacting, or did I recognise this person's brain signal? Was it a person I had known once, back when I was just starting to use my telepathy?

"Constantine must be testing the machine," was all I said.

Then the figure began to move. First their fingers twitched, then they gave a slight moan, then their head moved, and they sat up. As long, jet black hair cascaded down over bare shoulders, the feeling of dread exploded and immersed my entire body and mind. Chris tensed, and as the nude figure turned to look at us through dark, piercing eyes, Chloe screamed. I tried to keep my own fear under control. I hadn't been mistaken. I _had_ recognised this person's mind. For the face that stared back at us was the face that had haunted my nightmares for four months, the face that represented my greatest of all fears, the one face I had hoped and prayed I would never see again.

Mindstorm had returned.

A/N: once again, please leave a review to let me know if I'm doing a good job. I'd also be interested to know who (if anyone) your favourite character is. Thanks for reading.


	10. Stab in the Dark

Chapter Seven: Stab in the Dark

Chris reacted fastest, and did the first thing that came into his head. In his hand he was holding the last of the explosive charges, and he threw it as hard as he could towards Mindstorm. Still a little disoriented, and her nudity making her feel uncomfortable, she was taken by surprise, and the explosive hit her squarely in the forehead. Stunned, she fell backwards, and Chris pushed Fliss towards the exit, yelling, "Come on! Hurry!"

Before Mindstorm could react, the four of us had sprinted out of the lab, and Fliss hit the switch to open the secret door. We spilled out into the basement, and I slammed the door shut behind me. Chris reached into his jacket pocket, and said, "Take cover!"

He was holding the remote control for the explosives. We backed away from the door, not sure just how powerful the blast would be. Chris hit the button. Three identical explosions shook the building as one, and I put my arms around Chloe to protect her from any falling debris. The secret door must have been virtually soundproofed, as the sound of the detonation was relatively silent. When all was still once more, Fliss relaxed, removed her arms from covering her face, and said, "Whew. She's dead, right?"

"She must be," said Chris.

I pushed out with my senses, and my momentary relief was squashed, "No…no, she's still alive."

"_What_?" said Fliss in shock. "How could she have survived that blast?"

"She must have used her power to protect herself."

"That was Mindstorm, right?"

"Yes."

"Aren't we going to get out of here?" asked Chloe nervously. "I don't want to face Mindstorm."

Hardly surprising, given that the last time they had met, Mindstorm had used her telekinesis to try and literally tear Chloe limb from limb.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Constantine must have heard the explosion. I'm trying to sense what he's doing. We don't want to be trapped between him and Mindstorm."

"Then I suggest we run," said Fliss.

"We can't just run," I told her. "Think about it. Constantine brought Mindstorm back so she could join him. It's either that or he was planning to steal her mutations. Either way, it would make him far too strong. We have to make sure they don't join together."

"How?"

"I don't know. We have to find somewhere to hide and see what happens. I can try to shield our minds from her. My power's grown since I last faced Mindstorm, but I don't know how long I can keep us hidden."

"We'd better get back up to ground level," said Chris.

We hurried up the stairs out of the basement, and looked around, trying to find a hiding place in the unfamiliar layout of the Matthews manor. I didn't want to risk lost, so I pulled my friends into the only other room I knew how to find – Cornelius Matthews' study – and there we stopped.

"What's going on upstairs?" asked Fliss.

I stared at the ceiling and pushed my vision through to the floor above. I looked over to where I could sense our enemies' presence, and after a moment or two I said, "Ocelot's awake. He's sniffing around in his room, trying to sense if there's any danger. Constantine is asleep. Obviously he didn't hear a thing."

"Where's Nightshade?"

"Don't know. She's there somewhere…I can sense her, but I can't see her. She must be invisible."

"She must have heard the explosion and gone to investigate," said Chloe.

"Yeah. Hang on, Mindstorm's on the move. No doubt looking for us."

"Can she sense us?"

"No. I'm shielding our minds, but like I said, I can't keep it up for long. Good – she's heading in the wrong direction."

I kept watching Mindstorm. I couldn't try to read her mind – I couldn't use my telepathy at all – as she would sense my presence immediately, and come straight for us. Even with the four of us, and with my own power, I wasn't confident we could take her on. There was something about Mindstorm – a cruel sort of ruthlessness – that made me afraid to face her, even if we had a good chance on paper.

Right now her first priority seemed to be to find something to wear. I was trying hard not to be distracted by her gorgeous naked figure, and was slightly relieved when she found a set of clothes – probably Nightshade's – in one of the ground floor rooms. She was stretching out with her own telepathic power – I could feel it pushing against the shields I had raised around my mind and those of my friends – as she tried to locate us. I concentrated hard, increasing my power as much as I could, blocking her telepathy.

"What's happening?" asked Felicity.

I couldn't talk. All of my thought had to be devoted to keeping Mindstorm from detecting us. She'd obviously guessed that since she couldn't sense us anywhere, that I was shielding us, and she was pushing more and more telepathic power into trying to locate us, confident that she could batter down my mental shields. Her confidence wasn't misplaced. Her mind power was clearly still in advance of my own, and it was only a matter of time before she overcame me. I gave a small gasp as the last of my power was used up, and sensed the triumph in Mindstorm's thoughts, as she finally located me.

"She's found us," I gasped weakly to the others. "I'm sorry; I tried to shield us, but she was too strong. She's on her way."

I headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Chloe demanded.

"To draw her away from you. Wait a few minutes, then run for it. I can destroy her, but not her and Constantine together. I've got to go and stop them joining forces."

"I'm going with you!"

"Chloe!" I shouted. "Please! I have to go alone! Think of your own safety! Think of – of – oh, you know who I mean!"

I couldn't mention our daughter in front of Chris and Fliss. Chloe opened her mouth to protest, but I shook my head and said, "Chloe…please. I have to."

"What are you going to do?" asked Chris.

"Whatever I can think of. Get ready to run."

Not looking back, I hurried to the door and left the study, on my way to intercept Mindstorm. I couldn't sense her at all – my telepathic power was drained – and I was relying on my eyes and quick wits to keep me out of danger. I glanced behind me. Good, Chloe hadn't followed. Hopefully I had successfully pressed upon her the importance of keeping the baby safe. I had to keep Mindstorm and Constantine away from Chloe. I didn't know what I was going to do exactly…I'd have to think on my feet, and I was pretty good at that.

Mindstorm had the advantage over me: her mind power was still active, and she could sense exactly where I was. She would be closing in on me, and there was no way to hide or escape. There was no question that we would meet…I just had to think of a few surprises to spring on her when that time came. Right now, however, I couldn't think of anything. I resorted to prayer.

__

Oh God, please help me. Please keep Chloe and the baby safe.

Realistically there was no way to spring a surprise on Mindstorm. She'd read my mind the second I thought it up. I just had to rely on being quicker and luckier than she was. As long as I could fight her at close range, I had a good chance.

It was when I was cautiously peering around a corner to check the corridor beyond, that I first saw her. She was waiting for me, and launched a telekinetic blast in my direction the second she saw me. I ducked back around the corner, avoiding her attack. I knew she couldn't target me unless she could see me, so I had to stay out of her line of sight. I glanced round the corner again, then jumped back just as she threw another wave of psychic energy at me. I looked around for something, anything, that might help me. If I could just find something to throw at her, it would distract her for the second or two I would need to get close in.

My eyes lit on a heavy-looking vase sitting on a table nearby. I hurried over and tested its weight. Perfect. Lifting the vase, I leaned around the corner and flung it towards Mindstorm. She wasn't expecting it, and was knocked over by the weight of the vase as it hit her shoulder. I was running towards her in an instant, my adrenaline pumping, thrusting me into my berserk state, and I took off from the ground to launch a spinning kick at her head. Mindstorm gave a shriek as my foot connected with her face, blood bursting from her nose. She raised both hands to use her telekinesis, but I was ready for it. I chopped down on her right arm, deadening it, and raised my elbow into her throat. Mindstorm choked and stumbled, falling on to her knees. I kicked her in the side, knocking her on to the floor.

Neither my luck nor my berserk state would last forever, and as Mindstorm lifted herself painfully to her feet, the tide of the battle began to swing away from me. Anger and hatred etched into every line of her pretty face, Mindstorm unleashed her telekinesis, flinging me away from her. I hit the wall hard and collapsed on the floor, pain overtaking me for a moment or so. In that moment Mindstorm was standing over me, one hand raised, using her power to hold my body motionless on the ground. She lowered herself on to her knees and brought her head down until we were almost eye to eye.

"Now I've got you just where I want you," she snarled. "It's over for you. All that's left is your extremely slow and painful death"

Try as I might, I couldn't move a muscle. Mindstorm flexed her other hand, and said slowly, "Now which part of your body should I rip out first? An arm or a leg, perhaps? Or how about your tongue, or one of your eyes? No, how about the part every man values the most?"

Mindstorm's eyes travelled further down my body, and a sadistic smile crossed her face. She raised her free hand as she prepared to castrate me.

__

Please, God, I prayed.

Mindstorm screamed and her body jerked as Nightshade's silvery assassin blade flashed down out of nowhere, stabbing deep into her back, injecting poison into her blood. With her attention centred fully on me, and my own power used up, neither of us had sensed the invisible assassin's approach. Now Mindstorm, clearly aware that she was dying, had released me from her power, and turned on the other girl, clearly intent on killing Nightshade before meeting her own death. Her telekinesis flowed out of her in one huge blast, rocketing Nightshade into the wall, breaking at least a dozen bones and rupturing two or three major organs. Mindstorm tried to stand, to walk over and finish the job, but her body had succumbed to the poison, and she fell forward on to her knees, gasping for breath. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open, then she fell sideways and lay motionless.

I ran over to Nightshade. She was in pain, coughing up blood, tears welling in her eyes, jerking horribly as her body was racked by more and more agony. Her eyes met mine and she begged me, "Please…please do something!"

There was never any doubt in my heart about what I was going to do. I knelt by Nightshade and placed my hands on her shoulders, calling on my healing power. It flowed out from me into the assassin girl's body, restoring her, mending her bones, repairing her organs, easing her pain. She gasped with relief and her hand clutched unconsciously at mine. For a moment we looked into each other's eyes, both pairs shining with gratitude, then we seemed to realise that we were supposed to be enemies, and let go of each other.

"Um – I don't really know how to say this – but…thank you," she said uncertainly.

"Thank you too. You saved my life."

We both stood, and Nightshade backed away a step or two, looking warily at me, bracing herself for any imminent attack.

"Why _did _you save my life?" I asked curiously.

Nightshade hesitated, "I heard the way she was talking…she was completely insane. She was just going to torture you for the fun of it…I couldn't stand by and watch her do that. I don't really know what I was thinking – it just seemed the right thing to do. Somehow I knew I just had to do it."

"Well, thank you," I said, then gave her an ironic grin. "Don't worry, I won't tell Constantine you saved my life."

She tensed, "What _am_ I going to tell him?"

"Tell him that she went crazy and you had to defend yourself," I said. "Why was he trying to bring her back?"

"He wanted her to join us. Oculus – that explosion – what was it? Was that you?"

"Yes. We destroyed the laboratory."

Nightshade's eyes went wide, "No…"

"I'm afraid so."

"You might as well kill me now! Have you any _idea_ how furious Invincibilus is going to be?"

"Who?"

"Invincibilus," she repeated. "That's the new name Constantine's going under. He – "

From elsewhere in the manor, below us somewhere, came a shout, "NIGHTSHADE!!!"

"That's him," she trembled. "He must have just found out. He'll _kill_ me. And Ocelot. And anyone else he can get his hands on."

An idea struck me. I looked at her and said, "It doesn't have to be that way. Come with us. Help us fight against him."

I knew her friendliness towards me wasn't going to last long – she was simply experiencing good feelings towards me during the aftermath of my healing power – but I wondered if I could convince her to join us. I could tell she was tempted by my offer, and the chance of freedom from Constantine, but the last remnants of my healing were dissipating in her bloodstream, and she began to return to her normal self.

"I'm not joining you," Nightshade glared at me. "I don't owe you a thing."

"NIGHTSHADE!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" came another yell.

"You'd better go," I said.

"Next time we meet, I won't be saving your life," she snapped.

She went invisible and I could hear her footsteps lightly padding down the corridor as she ran towards Constantine. I turned round to look at the body of Mindstorm, her eyes and mouth still open wide in a frozen scream of pain. This was the third time we had had to defeat her, and I hoped it would be the last. I considered taking her dead body with me and dumping it in an incinerator, but no…I had to leave it here to back up the story Nightshade would give Constantine. If he found out that she had helped me, I knew she would not suffer lightly. Even though she was my enemy, I did not wish unnecessary pain on her. Without the machines in the laboratory, Constantine couldn't resurrect Mindstorm again anyway, so there was no reason why I couldn't leave her here. Instead I hurried to the exit to find my friends.

Later that day – the slightly later hours of the morning – I lay awake on my bed and thought hard about everything that had happened. We were back in my house now – we didn't wish to endanger Chloe's parents any longer – and our latest attempt to contact the Professor had again met with failure. In the absence of his help and advice, I was trying to decide what we should do next. The laboratory was destroyed, which was a huge weight off my shoulders. Mindstorm was dead – again – which was another. Now all we had to do was kill Constantine, and our fight would be over. 

But what should we do? I wasn't yet certain if we could confront him outright, so I had decided to wait and let him make the next move. Time was on our side, after all, now that he was no longer able to implant himself with new mutations. If Constantine didn't make a move soon, I was sure we would eventually be able to get in touch with the X-Men, and if necessary they could help us wipe him out. Having said that, though, we couldn't just sit around and wait for him to come to us. There was still the police and my murder charge to contend with. Thus far they didn't seem to have found out where I lived, but sooner or later we, or at least I, would have to leave this house. Maybe confronting Constantine now and destroying him _would_ be the best course of action…but it was risky. Once he was gone, it would be a simple matter to find a witness who could testify I had been in America at the time of the killing.

I wondered if the Professor knew what was happening to us. Were he and the other X-Men too concerned by their own problems that they were unaware of what was going on over here? It was funny in a way – the struggle between myself and Constantine was effectively a battle for control of the world – and yet virtually nobody knew it was even going on. Constantine wanted control of the world and I didn't want him to have it. I didn't want it for myself…the people of the world could be left to freely govern their own affairs, as far as I was concerned. I just wanted to be left alone to live my own life and raise my family.

It was just as I was thinking about my family that I heard a female voice calling from the doorway, "Neil?"

"Chloe?"

It was Felicity. I moved into a sitting position, as she nervously crossed the room and sat on the bed beside me.

"What's on your mind?" I said.

She was nervous, incredibly nervous, I could sense it. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. She looked at me, then quickly looked at the floor when I returned her gaze.

"Fliss, what is it?"

"Neil," she said at last. "Do you remember at Chloe's house…when I kissed you?"

"Yes."

"You weren't mad at me, were you?"

"No. A bit confused."

"That's good. I…I mean that's good that you're not mad. You see, Neil, I…I love you."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded quickly, "Yes. Oh, I know I started off by acting like a kid, playing around with you, trying to wind up Chris. But at some point during that time, I came to realise…I really do love you, way more than I love Chris."

"Fliss…"

"Please, hear me out," she said. "I thought I loved Chris, but he…he just doesn't treat me with any respect. He asked me to go to bed with him, did you know that? He got so _angry_ when I said no, almost as if…almost as if I had no right to say no, as if my body was his own private property that he could do whatever he liked with!"

Her anger had risen and she was nearly shouting. I put a hand on her arm to calm her, and she stopped, then looked at me, "But you…you're different. You've always respected me. You treat me as a friend first and a cute girl second. Chris isn't like that. Maybe he thinks he loves me, but when I'm upset or in a bad mood…he just doesn't want to know me. He's never there to comfort me or talk things over me when I need him."

"I'm not sure that's true…"

"Neil, I need you!" she cried, not listening to me. "Please! I need you more than anything!"

"Fliss…"

She grabbed me around the neck and pulled me towards her, pressing her lips against me, kissing me with that wild, uncontrollable passion once more. Fliss' emotions poured out of her, enveloping me in her feelings. Her kiss felt so incredible, so exciting, so _different_ – and then I understood why. It was to do with her mutation. Whenever Fliss got this excited or emotional, her body started to release millions of tiny electric pulses, the minute electric charges which normally flowed safely in her bloodstream, but which were ejected when her heart rate reached a certain level. I felt them now, passing from her body into mine, stimulating my own heart, acting as an aphrodisiac, raising my own excitement and desire, giving me the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her in return, and let my own emotions flow with hers. My body began to respond, and for the merest of moments I was reciprocating, kissing Felicity with the unbelievably high level of sexual desire she was arousing in me, then my mind took control, and I stopped. Gently I pushed her away from me, and put a finger on her lips.

"Fliss…you can't have me."

"I can't?" she said, sagging with dismay

"I'm in love with Chloe."

"Forget her. You don't need her. Leave her. _I_ need you!"

"Fliss…I can't leave Chloe, for two very good reasons. First, we're engaged to be married."

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but I had already pressed on, "Second…Fliss, promise you will never reveal this to a living soul…second, Chloe is pregnant with my baby."

Fliss gasped, "_Pregnant_?"

"Yes."

For a few moments she said nothing, just staring at me as if it couldn't possibly be true. Then she came back to her senses. Fliss ranted at me for a few minutes, accusing me of destroying Chloe's childhood, saying how dare I force her to be a mother before she had had a chance to live her life, calling me a typical male chauvinist pig…then she stopped. She sighed heavily and looked at me, "I don't know what to say. I feel like such an idiot. I had no right to demand that you leave Chloe."

"Fliss…forget about it. I'm not angry. Don't feel bad about this. I still love you, and I will always love you, as my friend. No matter what happens, I'll always have time for you."

"I know you will. Neil…don't tell Chloe…about what just happened."

"I won't."

"I don't want her to hate me."

"Oh, Fliss. Come here…"

I hugged her, and she held me tightly, two friends locked together in a fond embrace, nothing romantic or sexual about it, just two people who cared for each other and wanted to comfort one another. I knew it was a sign Fliss was beginning to let go of her desire of me, realising it was never going to happen between us. I knew that if I hadn't remained faithful to Chloe, there would have been nothing stopping me from returning Felicity's kiss, and we would probably now be making love on this very bed. I knew that Fliss could have made her place in my heart if Chloe hadn't already been there. I knew we could have come together and been happy together. I knew it was never going to happen. Chloe was my love, and Chloe was my life.

A/N: once again, please review! It will make me update faster. Comments on the characters are especially welcomed. 


	11. You'll Never Walk Alone

Chapter Eight: You'll Never Walk Alone

I must have dozed off at some point, as I awoke with a start, jerked upright, and hurriedly looked around me. Something was wrong. I could feel it. I could sense terror…dread…panic…what was going on? Had Constantine found out where we lived? From downstairs I could hear Chloe and Fliss talking, calmly, easily. Chris was in the other bedroom; he was also perfectly all right.

So it was nothing in the immediate vicinity. But I could still sense that something was wrong, somewhere fairly nearby. I glanced at the clock: almost noon. I had been asleep for about two hours. I got off the bed and headed downstairs. Chloe and Fliss both looked up as they saw me, and both of them gave me a smile in greeting. Chloe's was bright and happy, while Fliss' was a shy, almost apologetic grin. She was still feeling bad about earlier.

"Are you two all right?" I asked. "Is everything OK?"

Chloe looked a little puzzled, "Yeah, fine. Why, what's up?"

"I'm not sure. I can sense feelings coming from somewhere close by. Somebody near us is terrified, afraid that they're about to die."

"Who?"

"I can't tell."

"Where's Chris?" Fliss asked.

"He's upstairs. It isn't him. I wonder if…"

"If what?"

"Tell you in a minute. I just want to check something."

I went into the front room to put on the TV. Chloe was beside me and Fliss followed behind us. I picked up the remote control; there wouldn't a news program on at this time of day, but I could check the text pages and read the headlines. I flicked on the first channel, and was instantly greeted by a newsflash.

" – motive remains unclear," the newsreader was saying. "They remain adamant that they will speak to nobody other than Neil Rosiçky – "

What? What was this? I listened intently.

"For those of you who are just joining us, a brief recap," the newsreader said. "We are interrupting our regular broadcast to bring you news of a mutant attack that occurred less than an hour ago in Edinburgh's Princes Street. Three mutants, as yet unidentified, seized a bus carrying more than thirty schoolchildren, killing the driver. Their leader issued a statement a short while ago, saying that the children would be killed one at a time, starting at noon, unless his demands were met. So far his only demand has been that he be met by a Neil Rosiçky. Whether or not this is the same Mr Rosiçky who is wanted by the police in connection with the murder of Cornelius Matthews, remains to be seen. So far there has been no appearance by anyone of that name. It is now twenty minutes to twelve – twenty minutes until the first child is due to be killed."

Chloe gasped and put her hands over her mouth. Fliss exclaimed, "Neil! It must be Constantine! He's trying to force you to confront him!"

I said nothing, keeping my attention on the news broadcast.

"We are now able to bring you the first pictures from the scene of the attack," said the newsreader, and the screen switched to show a somewhat unsteady image of Princes Street, the main shopping thoroughfare of Edinburgh. "On the left of your screen you can see the school bus. The three mutants are believed to be remaining inside the bus, but…wait, one of them appears to be emerging!"

I watched as the camera zoomed in slightly, and Constantine stepped out of the bus on to the pavement. Traffic had been completely stopped, and a half-circle of journalists and onlookers had formed around the bus, being kept at a safe distance by police. Constantine ran his eyes over the crowd, as if looking for something, then he stepped back inside the bus. I realised he must have been looking for me.

"The police are unable to move to confront these mutants, who have threatened to kill a child if anybody other than Neil Rosiçky approaches the bus," the newsreader continued. "Apparently a special army unit is on the way, but they are not expected to arrive until after twelve o'clock, too late to stop the killing of the first child."

I thought of all the parents who must be sitting at home or at work right now, glued to the TV or radio, each frantic at the thought that the children in danger might include their own. Constantine would carry out his threat and kill the children if I didn't appear – I had no doubt of that. I had no choice but to do what he said, and go to meet him. I had turned to head for the door when the newsreader spoke again, "Wait, this is just in. The leader of the mutant attackers – the man just seen on your screen – has been identified as one Constantine Matthews, son of Cornelius Matthews. This attack may be an attempt to seek some form of revenge against Rosiçky, the man accused of his father's murder. A mutant himself, Rosiçky's whereabouts are unknown, and police are very sceptical about whether or not he will appear today. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, a recap…"

I ran for the door and grabbed my jacket from where it hung in the hall.

"You're going?" asked Chloe, who was right behind me.

"Of course I'm going."

"I'm coming with you."

Fliss gasped, "But Chloe, you're – "

I gave her a sharp look, reminding her that she wasn't supposed to know about Chloe's pregnancy. She fell silent.

"Chloe, you can't," I said, holding up my hand to forestall her argument. "No – Chloe, I have to go alone. You heard what the newsreader said. Those kids will be murdered if anybody other than me goes near the bus."

"You are _not_ going alone," she said. "The three of them will kill you. We're going with you. We'll hang back and stay in the crowd until you need our help."

I sighed, then said, "All right. Get Chris down here right away. He's the only one who knows how to drive."

"Drive?"

"Of course, drive!" I exclaimed. "The first child is going to be killed in twenty minutes! Do you really think we can walk from here to Princes Street in twenty minutes? Hurry! Get ready!"

I opened the front door of the house and scanned the street, looking for a suitable vehicle. Normally I wouldn't think of stealing my neighbours' property, but this was an emergency, and we would return it afterwards. I heard Chloe running up the stairs yelling for Chris, and Fliss watching me anxiously. A moment later, Chris was at my side, yawning, "I was asleep! What's so important it can't wait?"

"I don't have time to explain!" I said hurriedly. "We have to get to Princes Street in less than twenty minutes, and you have to drive us there. Choose the car you think looks fastest. Don't ask me why, just do it!"

Chris shrugged, "That sports car across the street is probably our best bet."

"Right. Can you hot-wire it?"

"Hot-wire it?" he asked, sounding offended. "I grew up in Leith; of course I can hot-wire it."

"Then do it. We'll be right behind you."

I was glad that Chris had the sense to respond to the urgency in my voice, and not waste time with questions. He ran across the street to appropriate the car, and I ushered the girls after him. Almost subconsciously locking the house door behind me, I began to run towards the car. Chris had picked the lock on the door, and was in the process of hot-wiring the engine. Fortunately the owner of the vehicle, presumably inside his house, did not appear to be aware of what was going on, and nobody tried to stop us. The four of us climbed into the car, and Chris threw it into gear, pulling away from the kerb. I offered up a quick prayer, _Oh, God, please let us get there on time. Please keep those children safe._

"How fast can we get there?" I asked.

"Ten, fifteen minutes," he guessed. "Depending on how carefully I drive."

"Get there as fast as you can without doing anything stupid."

"Right. Do you want to tell me what this is about?"

"Constantine's holding a bunch of school children hostage. He's going to kill them one by one if I don't put in an appearance. The first one will be killed at noon."

Chris whistled, "Bloody hell. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Talk to him, see what he wants, I suppose."

"He wants you dead. How are you going to keep him from killing those children?"

"Chris, do I look as if I know? I only found out about it five minutes ago. I'm trying to think of a plan, but nothing's coming to my mind." 

"The most important thing is the safety of those children," said Chloe, unconsciously rubbing her hand against her lower torso, where our own baby was safe.

"No, the most important thing is Neil staying alive to stand up to Constantine," said Chris. "If Neil gets killed, who's going to stop Constantine from killing as many children as he wants?"

"I can't let either of those things happen," I said. "I have to keep the children safe and keep myself alive. There has to be some way of doing it. I just need to think."

"What do you want us to do?" asked Fliss.

"Wait in the crowd until I give you a signal," I said. "Then come out and help me. If I'm incredibly lucky I can somehow get all three of them to leave the bus, then we can try and finish them. We can't let even one child die. This is my fault, in a way. I was stupid to think Constantine would sit quietly and bide his time until our next fight. I should have known he'd try and tip the balance somehow."

"Do you think the X-Men will help us?" Fliss asked hopefully.

"How can they? Even their jet can't get here in twenty minutes. We're on our own. We have to do this ourselves. This is our real test. It's our sworn duty to protect innocent human lives, remember."

She nodded. Chris glanced in the rear view mirror and swore, "Damn it. Police car. I'm going a bit faster than I should."

"We can't stop. You'll just have to lose them. And _don't_ do anything stupid."

"Can't you use your power to stop them?"

"I'm saving my power for facing Constantine. I'll need it."

"True. OK, hold on. Here we go."

Chris pulled into the middle lane of traffic and increased speed, pulling away from the police car.

"Please keep your speed under control," Chloe begged. "Don't hit anybody!"

"I won't. Trust me."

"How much driving experience do you have?" Fliss asked dubiously.

Chris raised an eyebrow, "Do you really want me to answer that? Just trust me."

How he did it, I would never know, but somehow Chris managed to thread the car between the lanes of traffic, safely avoiding hitting anything, steadily leaving the police car behind. We were coming up on Princes Street with almost ten minutes to spare, when the traffic in front of us was no longer moving, and we had to stop.

"I was just beginning to enjoy that," Chris grinned, parking the car. "Come on, we'd better hurry."

We piled out of the car and began running towards the steadily growing crowd ahead of us.

"Stay here," I said to them, once we were inside the crowd. "Spread out a bit, give them multiple targets. If I'm about to get killed, and I haven't signalled you…just use your judgement. You'll have to weigh my safety against the lives of those children. Wish me luck."

Chloe gave me a quick kiss on my lips. Fliss pecked me on the cheek, and Chris put an encouraging hand on my shoulder. I took one last look at my three truest friends, then I turned and began walking towards the edge of the crowd. People were tightly packed together near the front, and I had to shoulder my way through. Struggling past journalists and cameramen, I finally made my way to the front, where a policeman stepped in front of me.

"Sorry, son, you can't get any closer," he said. "It's too dangerous."

I lowered my sun-glasses to show him my gold-pupilled eyes, "I'm Neil Rosiçky."

For a moment the officer gaped, then he turned to look for his superior, "Inspector!"

A second policeman hurried over, demanding, "What? What is it? Can't you keep the crowd back?"

"This lad says he's Rosiçky."

The inspector looked at me, "You? What do you know about this? What's behind this attack?"

"I don't know," I said. "Look, I don't have time to stand and talk. It's five minutes to twelve, and if you don't let me to that bus, a child will be killed!"

"Do you have any proof that you are Rosiçky? We can't let anybody else near the bus."

"He's got the gold eyes, sir!" the junior officer exclaimed.

"Those could be easily faked," the inspector snapped. "Contact lenses, most likely. I need _real_ proof."

"Why don't you ask the guy in the bus, see what he says?" I demanded, my anger beginning to rise. "You want proof? I'll show you."

Impatiently I raised one hand, and used my power to lift both policemen off the ground. I lifted them only a few inches, then lowered them back down. This time the inspector was convinced, and a little terrified.

"All right, I believe you, now go and do something for those children!" he shouted, ushering me forwards.

I walked steadily towards the bus, and I heard the murmur of conversation in the crowd fade into silence, everybody waiting anxiously to see what would happen. I stopped a few yards away from the school bus, and could see through the windows the faces of the children: sobbing, some screaming, terrified beyond belief.

"I'm here, Constantine!" I yelled.

The door of the vehicle was pushed open, and he stepped out on to the tarmac surface of the road.

"Let the children go," I demanded.

Constantine laughed, "You're in no position to tell me what to do. I think you'll find I hold all the aces."

"Why did you ask me here? What do you want me to do?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Get on the bus."

I remained where I was. Constantine snarled, "Do what I say, or I'll kill one of them."

I had no choice. I moved towards the door, and he shoved me inside. Within the vehicle, I could get a closer look at the hostages. The children were not very old, all aged about seven or eight, and all of them were looking at me with petrified pleading in their eyes. Ocelot stood over them, holding his hands at his side, his long, menacing claws visible for all to see. Nightshade leaned against the wall, glancing emotionlessly at me, her arms folded, her lithe, nimble form coiled like a spring, ready to jump into action.

"Nightshade, tie him," came Constantine's voice from behind me. "He can't use his mind power if his arms are tied."

He threw a length of rope towards the assassin girl, who stepped towards me, and began pulling the rope around my arms. Unfortunately, Constantine was right. This _would_ prevent me from using my telekinesis. It would require several more years' experience before I could learn to manipulate it by thought alone. As Nightshade began to tighten the knots that held my wrists behind my back, I telepathed to her, _Do you really want these children to die?_

She jumped a little out of surprise, as most people did when a telepath first 'spoke' to them. She made no response, continuing with the knots.

__

Nightshade! I tried again_, you can't do this! You're an assassin but you're not a child murderer! Remember why you killed Mindstorm!_

That got through to her. Her hands loosened on the ropes, and she was caught in indecision. For a moment she deliberated, weighing her options: to go along with Constantine and be responsible for the deaths of innocent children; or to help me keep the children alive, while risking the chance that she might have to suffer Constantine's wrath. Eventually she made up her mind. Unpicking the knots, she began to re-tie them, looser than before, knowing she was giving me the chance to help the kids.

My hands tied, she stepped away, and Constantine came over to stand before me.

"So," he said. "Now that you are powerless before me, I have a question."

"What?"

"When we first met, in the courtyard at my estate, I said that you were the only mutant in the world powerful enough to stand in my way. You said I was wrong, and that there were mutants more powerful than you, who could stop me."

"And?"

"I want to know who they are, and where I can find them."

"Why?"

"I would have thought that was obvious. I will hunt them down and kill them, after I have killed you. Then there will be nobody left to stand up to me. Tell me who they are."

I said nothing. Constantine's eyes narrowed, and he moved closer to me, "Tell me."

I remained silent. He turned to Ocelot and snapped, "Bring me a child!"

The feline mutant grabbed the arm of the child nearest him, a small Japanese girl, and pulled her towards Constantine. She screamed, "No! I want my mummy!"

The other children began to cry and wail in terror as their friend was led away.

"The next one of you who utters a sound will be instantly killed," Constantine snarled impatiently, and the children fell silent.

Ocelot pushed the ashen-faced, horrified child in front of him, and flexed his clawed hands. Constantine smirked at me and said, "If you want that girl to live to see her next birthday, you had better tell me what I want to know."

I hesitated. Constantine lost his patience and yelled, "Ocelot, kill her!"

"No!" I screamed, as Ocelot's claws descended towards the girl's neck. "Stop! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!"

The cat-man relaxed, bringing his arms back to his sides, and I felt gratitude and relief pouring out of the little girl. Constantine said, "Go on."

"Professor Charles Xavier; Westchester, New York," I said hurriedly. "Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto; I don't know where he is." 

"Anybody else?"

"No. Just them."

"Good. I'm glad you could be so co-operative."

He moved away from me, and beckoned Nightshade and Ocelot to him. The three of them began discussing in low tones, doubtless deciding how to use the information I had just given him. Temporarily ignored, I began working at the ropes around my wrists, trying to see just how loose Nightshade had left them. I looked over at the small girl who was still standing where Ocelot had left her. 

__

Be brave, I told her, _I'm doing everything I can_.

She nodded, and I saw the tiniest spark of hope began to flicker in her eyes. I hoped it wasn't to be extinguished. The ropes were moving now, and my hands were almost free. I glanced over at my enemies; the three of them were standing at the front of the bus, away from me, but more importantly away from the children. I had both hands free now. I knew what I had to do to save the children. Ocelot was keeping his eyes trained on me, but from the way I was sitting he couldn't see that my ropes were untied. I pushed out with my telepathy, sensed the minds of my three friends in the crowd outside, and sent to them, _Get ready!_

Moving like a flash, I swivelled, raised both arms, and launched a huge telekinetic blast at my three enemies. Constantine and Nightshade were caught completely unawares; Ocelot, with cat-like reflexes, had tensed himself in preparation, but that didn't stop the three of them from being thrown cleanly through the front windscreen of the bus, the glass shattering and hitting the pavement around them.

__

Now! I telepathed to my friends.

"Stay here!" I told the children. "Don't get out until I tell you it's safe!"

"Good luck," the little Japanese girl said.

I smiled at her, and hurried to the front of the bus to see what was happening outside. My enemies were cut and bleeding all over from the glass, but Constantine was using his healing power – the power he'd stolen from Antaeus – to restore himself and Nightshade. He had moved on to heal Ocelot when I leapt out of the bus to confront them. Constantine saw me, and turned a malevolent, hate-filled gaze in my direction.

"You're dead," he hissed. "Nightshade, Ocelot, watch out for his friends. They'll be here somewhere."

Ocelot bared his long, pointed teeth in a predatory grin, and Nightshade activated her invisibility, disappearing from view. Constantine lifted his arm to use his gravitational power, but I was one step ahead of him. I used my telekinesis to hold his arms in place, and he struggled against my power. His phenomenal body strength – the other gift he had stolen from Antaeus – came into play as he flexed his arms and fought against me, pulling them ever higher, into a position where he could use them to create a gravity field. He gave a snarl of triumph as he succeeded, and used his power to launch me across the street. I tried to slow myself, but I was still moving at a fair pace when I hit the metal railings running along the side of the street. Rising painfully to my feet, I glanced over the railings, down to the railway lines that led into the Waverley train station. A crowd had gathered down there too, spellbound by events taking place up above. The crowd up on the street were backing away nervously, a frenzy of camera flashes almost blinding me.

Fliss had appeared at the edge of the crowd, near the railings, firing lightning bolts from her fingertips, aiming at Constantine or Ocelot, I couldn't tell which. Constantine dodged one, and pointed Ocelot in Felicity's direction. The feline mutant extended his claws and began moving at a run towards Fliss. Chris jumped in to block him, and assumed a defensive stance.

"Here, kitty, kitty," he taunted.

Ocelot growled and swiped through the air with his clawed hands. Chris dodged and chopped him on the neck. Ocelot shrugged it off and slashed at Chris, cutting a gash in my friend's shoulder. Chris cried out, stumbled, and Ocelot grabbed him, thrusting a wiry, sinewy arm around Chris' neck. He struggled, but the cat-man was too strong. I moved over to help him, but Constantine was heading in my direction. Nightshade materialised in front of Chris, and her index finger began to mutate into her assassin blade.

__

Nightshade! _Stop_! I sent, but I knew she wasn't listening.

Chris was still struggling against Ocelot, no nearer to escape. As Nightshade's killer blade stabbed through the air towards him, his survival instinct took over, and he changed into liquid. The poisoned blade passed harmlessly through him, and, unable to stop her momentum, Nightshade stabbed Ocelot through the chest. The feline howled. Nightshade withdrew her hand as quickly as she could, but it was too late. Chris had re-coalesced and was back on his feet, ready to challenge Nightshade. The dying Ocelot kicked him solidly in the ribs, breaking half his rib-cage, knocking him through the air to hit the railings. Chris lay motionless on the ground. Ocelot was curled on the floor, convulsing, in his death throes, then he stopped moving, and I could sense his consciousness no longer. Nightshade was approaching Chris, her features tainted with fury at having been tricked, and she was determined to make no mistake this time, stabbing down towards my friend's unmoving body.

Fliss hit her squarely in the back with a lightning bolt. Nightshade screamed as she was thrown over the railings and down on to the train lines below. She tried to land on both feet, but the drop was too much, and she sprawled on her front. Rolling over, Nightshade stood, and had just enough time to look up before the express train hit her at full speed. For a brief, tiny second, shock registered in her mind, along with something else: regret. In her last conscious thought, Nightshade regretted the fact that she had never taken me up on my offer, the fact that she had stayed with Constantine. It was too late for redemption now.

Constantine's scream of anger, sorrow and disbelief reverberated through the air, drowning the terrified shrieks of the crowd. The one who called himself Invincibilus ran to the railings to look down on the twisted, mangled body of his beloved. His rage was almost a physical thing leaping through the air towards my telepathic brain. But it wasn't me his fury was directed at. It was the one who had killed Nightshade. It was Fliss.

"I'll _kill_ you!!" he roared, turning in her direction. "I'll torture you to within an inch of your life, then heal you and start all over again!"

Fliss panicked and backed away, launching a lightning bolt at him. It hit Constantine in the chest, but he didn't even feel it. Immune to pain, he healed himself, and raised his hands to destroy her.

"Over here, Constantine!" I yelled.

He turned, as if he had just remembered I was there. His priority changed. As much as he wanted revenge on Fliss, he knew he had to kill me first. He was alone, but I knew he didn't care. Ignoring Felicity, Constantine faced me, and prepared to do battle. In the few seconds I had, I tried to prepare myself both mentally and physically. I knew this would be our last fight, the deciding confrontation. The freedom of the world and the safety of countless innocents rested on my defeating him once and for all.

It was the final showdown between us, between good and evil, light and dark, Oculus and Invincibilus. Only one of us would walk away alive.

A/N: As always, please review. I love getting your feedback, and it'll get you a faster update! 


	12. Final Duel

Chapter Nine: Final Duel

For a few minutes the two of us stood and faced one another, looking into each other's eyes, like gunfighters facing off in a Western, both waiting for some obscure cue to begin the battle. Then, as if we had both been prompted by some invisible signal, the two of us sprang into action. Constantine started stronger, determined to finish me off as quickly as possible, moving to close the distance between us. At long range we were fairly well matched, but at short range his mutated strength would give him a clear advantage. I backed away, keeping a safe distance between the two of us, waiting for an opportunity to use my telekinesis. I didn't want to waste my power, and there was no point in using it just for the sake of it. Constantine could heal any injuries I inflicted on him…I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to defeat him. I had to think of something. There had to be some way.

The crowd around us had somehow sensed that this was the final confrontation between two ultimates, and most of them had begun to flee, trying to get to a safe distance away from us. Fliss was struggling with the unconscious form of Chris, trying to get him to safety. I pushed out my senses towards Chris – his injuries were not fatal; there was no immediate need for me to heal him. I continued to step backwards from Constantine, waiting for some plan to occur to me, some way of destroying him. He kicked aside an empty parked car that blocked his way, sending it spinning over and over to one side, narrowly avoiding crushing a group of fleeing humans.

He raised one hand, using his power to increase the gravity around me, my movements becoming slower and more sluggish, as he drew closer and closer. I tried to move out of his path, but my body felt like it weighed a hundred tons, and I couldn't move any more than a few inches. Constantine launched a devastating sideways kick to my mid-section, sending me sprawling on to my back. I could feel bones broken and internal organs damaged, and I called on my healing power. My body restored, I quickly rolled over to avoid another attack from Constantine. Getting to my feet, I hurriedly looked around for something I might be able to use against him. My eyes lit upon a large delivery lorry, a few vehicles back from the school bus. Abandoned, its driver had presumably joined one of the groups of escaping humans.

Constantine was trying to target me with his power again, but I was already a step ahead of him, using a telekinetic blast to throw him into the side of the lorry. He gave a yell, of surprise more than pain, as he hit the vehicle full on, and collapsed on to the ground, momentarily stunned. I concentrated my power and pulled over the lorry, bringing it down on top of Constantine, crushing him.

I knew he wasn't dead. I could still sense his presence. For a moment all was still, then the lorry began to move. Slowly, gradually, it rose from the concrete surface as Constantine pushed it away from him. When he had raised it high enough, he pushed it to one side, and pulled himself out. He was injured – his body had received damage – but before I could do anything else, he began to heal himself. His body restored within seconds, Constantine narrowed his eyes at me, and prepared for his next attack. Altering the gravity around the wrecked lorry, he raised it from the ground and created a gravity field to send it rocketing through the air towards me. I didn't have enough time to react and use my power to push it away – there was only one way to avoid it. Using my telekinesis, I pushed away from the ground, and lifted myself into the air, just as the lorry sped through the air underneath me. It smashed against the front of a shop, pieces of mangled metal and broken glass flying through the air, and I lowered myself to the ground.

Constantine was running at me once more, trying to catch me off balance with a swift attack. I dodged aside as he leapt through the air towards me, and hit him with a spinning kick, knocking him into the ruined shop-front. He landed on his back, broken glass and twisted pieces of metal biting into his skin. He struggled for a moment, then his healing power mended his wounds, and he got into a sitting position. Grabbing one of the pieces of metal debris – a pole about ten feet long, jagged at one end where it had been torn loose – he held it in front of him like a spear, and stood in a defensive position, trying to think of his next move.

His delay was just the opportunity I needed. I looked around for another vehicle, and decided simply to use the first car I saw. It was empty – all of the vehicles had been parked and abandoned during the hostage situation – and I launched it through the air towards Constantine. He was slow to react – his gravity control did not appear to work well on fast-moving objects – and the car hit him full on, knocking him back on to the floor, the metal pole still gripped firmly in his left hand. I heard a cheer going up from the crowd, and I saw they were now standing at a safe distance, watching the encounter. The hostage schoolchildren had been freed from the bus, and many were standing with parents, relief and gratitude pouring out of each of them, all willing me to destroy the man who had used them as living shields.

He had no shields now, and no more allies. Nightshade and Ocelot were dead, and Constantine had to rely solely on himself and his own abilities. It was him or me, simply a matter of which of us defeated the other. This was without doubt the hardest battle either of us had ever fought, with the fate of the world as a prize. Constantine was fighting to take control of the world's population, and I was fighting to keep him from doing so. A world ruled by Constantine was not something I even wanted to try and imagine.

The realisation that the crowd was on my side had riled him, and spurred him on to greater effort. Pushing the car aside, he jumped to his feet, still clutching his makeshift spear. Angrily raising his free hand, he began to increase the gravity around me, and I felt the unpleasant sensation of my body weight increasing beyond a level at which I could move. I struggled to lift my arms to counter with my telekinesis, but I didn't have the strength to lift the ton-weight limbs that were hanging by my sides. I tried to enter my berserk state, but my adrenaline level wasn't high enough. I continued to battle against the increasing gravity, but I knew it was a pointless battle. I could hardly move a single muscle. Constantine flexed his arm and clenched his fist, increasing his power, the gravity around me getting stronger and stronger. His power pushing me down towards the ground, coupled with the Earth's natural gravitational force, began to have a compacting effect on my body. I felt as if I was compressed, squashed, tightened, my lungs and heart being crushed by my rib-cage. My own body was destroying itself…my body had no defence against this…

My mind. My only way to attack now was with my mind. Pushing out with my telepathy towards Constantine, I entered his mind. It was the first time I had fully projected my consciousness into his thoughts, and I was glad. It wasn't a pleasant place to be. From our brief acquaintance, I already knew he wasn't a particularly kind-hearted individual, but some of the things I read in his mind were disgusting beyond belief: things he had done; things he wished he could have done; things he was planning to do; all the terrible, sadistic punishments he intended to inflict on Chloe, Chris and Felicity once I was dead. Once I was out of the way, their lives would be in his hands, and he meant to make those lives one long, savage odyssey of suffering. There was just one problem with that plan…

I wasn't dead yet. He thought he had me beaten, but I had one last trick up my sleeve. I was going to try something I had never managed to do before, something the Professor had been trying to teach me, something that he had assured me would come when my power had grown and when I needed it the most. That time was now.

I was going to control Constantine's mind. It was the only way. I didn't have to do it for long, just long enough to get him to nullify the gravity field he had created around me. I moved around in his mind for what seemed like hours, but was really only seconds, until I found the decision-making part of his cerebrum. This was something I had never been able to do before: I had to implant a decision in his brain. Doing this wasn't difficult enough; the difficulty lay in doing it subtly enough that he didn't know I _had_ done it. Done carefully enough, he would believe the decision was his own, and would obey it without question. It required a level of concentration that would normally take meditation to achieve. I didn't have that much time. I had only seconds to act. To someone like the Professor it would have been easy. To someone with my relative inexperience, it should have been impossible.

Only it wasn't. Somehow I knew, before I even tried it, that it was going to work. It was the only way I could stop Constantine from killing me. My death, his victory, him ruling over the world, was inconceivable. I concentrated with all my being on the simple thought: _stop_, and, after offering up a quick prayer, pushed it into his brain.

He stopped. The gravity field disappeared, and I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, desperately using my healing power to restore my crushed body. Constantine was standing, shaking his head in confusion, unable to remember why he had just stopped his power when he had been seconds away from killing me. I knew I could not rely on it working a second time. I had to keep on the move to prevent him from doing that again; if I stood still for too long he could create a gravity field around me, and it would be too late to escape. I stepped back, putting distance between us, and used my telekinesis to lift the car again, preparing to bash it against his head once more. This time he was ready, and used his gravitational powers to repel the car away from him, sending it crashing into another couple of stationary vehicles off to my left.

I was on the move, backing away again, as he moved forwards, always remaining the same distance apart. I took a quick glance around. Was there somewhere I could hide? I had two advantages over Constantine in that respect: I could look through solid objects, and I was psychic. If I could find a place to hide, I could pinpoint him with my X-ray eyesight and use my telekinesis with impunity. There had to be somewhere I could disappear. I ducked behind a delivery van, trying to stay out of his view. Whether or not he knew about my X-ray eyesight was questionable; there was no way he could have seen me using it, but he might have known about it from my father's research. Keeping parked vehicles between myself and Constantine, I looked around once more, determined to find somewhere to conceal myself.

Fairly certain that he couldn't see me, I ducked into a side street, and through the first door I came into. It led into a restaurant: empty, with half-eaten meals left abandoned on tables. Hungry as I was, I couldn't stop to partake of anything. Looking through the wall, I focused on the street outside, and my eyes lit on Constantine. Still clutching his 'spear', he was prowling around the parked vehicles, checking each one carefully, convinced I had to be hiding behind one of them. I raised both hands and took a telepathic hold of two cars, waiting until Constantine was standing directly between them. He took a cautious step forward, then another – two more would be enough – as he checked to see if I were crouching behind either of the vehicles. He stopped, glanced over his shoulder to make sure I wasn't sneaking around behind him, then stepped forward.

I brought the two vehicles together with a sickening metallic crunch, catching Constantine between them, crushing him to the floor. Any other man – or mutant – would have been crippled or killed by such an attack, but Constantine merely staggered to his feet, feeling no pain, and seemingly unhurt. He was furious now, frustrated by the fact that I could attack him while he couldn't even see me, and he angrily swung the jagged metal bar through the air, creating a huge dent in the side of one of the cars I had just thrown at him. Time to rid him of that particular weapon, I thought. I didn't fancy facing it in a close combat situation. Using my telekinesis to pull the metal pole from his grasp, I flung it down the street away from him. For a second, Constantine watched it go, then he returned to angrily scanning the street, looking for me.

Eventually he worked out where I was. Either he knew about my mutated eyesight, or he made a lucky guess, but whichever it was, he came storming down the side street and into the restaurant where I was hiding. I was ready for him. I used my power to lift a carving knife from beside a steak lunch on one of the tables, and sent it arcing through the air towards him. It was moving too fast for him to dodge, and he made no attempt to avoid it, instead raising his arm to shield himself, the knife slashing deep into his wrist. He pulled it out and threw it aside, activating his healing power. I had already begun moving towards the door while he was distracted; I didn't want to be cornered by him. He tried to create a gravity field around me to slow me down, but I was moving too fast.

Keeping my distance from him, I backed out into the street, waiting for another opportunity to attack. He was trying to get as close as possible to me, having decided that I was too dangerous at long range, determined to fight me at point-blank range. I had to keep him as far away from me as possible, as that was the only way I could see myself achieving a victory. I still wasn't sure how I was going to kill Constantine…so far my attacks had damaged him a lot, but nothing that he couldn't easily heal. I had to find some way to cause him an injury that he couldn't heal…but how? How could I stop him from using his power?

I had the same power, and I knew from my own experience that it was a mutation of the heart. That was where the power originated when I called upon it, spreading throughout my bloodstream from its point of origin, restoring my entire body. Constantine's power had to be the same…so if I could find some way to damage his heart…would that stop him from healing himself? If so, it meant I had the same weakness myself. It seemed like the easiest way to kill him; the other method would have been to destroy his brain. I decided to go for the heart.

He was still advancing on me, changing the gravity around himself so he could run faster, and was slowly closing the distance between us. His dark eyes narrowed with murderous intent, and he flexed his powerful arms in preparation for his next attack. Still backing away, I felt myself stopped by something solid, and turned to see that I had run out of room, and was trapped against a building. I stopped, as if I had given up trying to run, and Constantine charged, going for the kill. I pushed away from the ground, lifting myself up over him, and his momentum carried him straight into the shop-front, the glass window shattering as he ploughed through into the building interior. As it happened, I realised one advantage I had over him: the ability to think clearly and calmly, even in the middle of a death duel such as this. Constantine was fighting mad, driven almost insane by Nightshade's death, and wasn't thinking at all, just going for the simplest way to kill me. Hopefully this would be the key to destroying him.

I dropped to the ground and went after him, knowing he would have been cut and gashed by the glass, determined to press my next attack home before he could use his healing power. Inside the shop, he was struggling to his feet, blood pouring from wounds and cuts in his face, arms and chest. I launched myself towards him, a two-footed kick connecting with the base of his spine, knocking him forward on to his hands and knees. The pain would have been excruciating if he hadn't been immune to it, and it was this that saved him. Oblivious to the damage his body had suffered, he staggered upright once more, and came for me again, intent on only one thing: destroying me utterly. I ducked underneath his clumsy punch, and kicked him solidly in the ribs. I had to concentrate my attacks on his heart, while giving him no time to heal his wounds.

Constantine tried to create a gravity field around me, but I was constantly on the move: ducking, dodging, light on my feet, never staying in one place long enough for him to attack me. I feinted with my left, then punched him in the throat with my right fist. He choked for breath, stumbled, and lost his footing, both hands clutching at his windpipe. I closed in. This was it. I had almost won. I knew it. He tried to get to his feet. He couldn't. I moved in for the kill.

My overconfidence was my undoing. I had forgotten that Constantine was like no enemy I had ever faced before, and I realised my mistake a split second too late as he rose, and reached up to grab me around the neck with his impossibly strong muscles. He squeezed, constricting my throat, cutting off my breathing, lifting me clear off the ground. I scrabbled desperately at his hand with both of mine, but it was pointless. His strength was far in excess of mine, and I was never going to loosen his hold that way. My vision was beginning to blur, black spots appearing before my eyes, as I began to lose consciousness. I tried to go berserk, but in my weakened state it wasn't possible.

An idea occurred to me, an idea borne out of madness and desperation, something I had never tried before, something that had to work…if it didn't I was dead. Since our bodies were touching, I was able to create a telepathic link between myself and Constantine. I pushed out to him with my feelings, exactly the same way I did with Chloe, although this time my objective was somewhat different. Constantine gasped as it had happened, as my mind pushed into his, and he began to experience everything I was feeling, seeing and thinking. The pain he was inflicting on me was now being shared between us, and he jerked in shock, his hand releasing my throat. I fell to the floor, gasping for breath, struggling weakly to get away from him. The telepathic link had been broken as he released me, and he wasn't impressed. Grabbing my grounded form with both hands, he flung me out of the building, back out into the street. I hadn't fully regained consciousness, and I was vaguely aware of flying through the air, then pain registered as I collided with something very solid.

I shook my head to clear it, and tried to get to my feet to face his next attack. I was too weak and too slow, and Constantine had already lifted me once more, throwing me against the brick wall of the next building along. I felt bones snapping as I slid to the floor, the pain overwhelming me, my mind struggling to keep everything together. Heal…I had to heal…before I could do anything, he had taken hold of me once more, and was battering my body against the wall, as if he wanted to smash me like a china doll. Gripping me powerfully in one hand, Constantine drew back his fist, and delivered a devastating punch to my chest. I screamed as my ribs shattered and punctured my heart, and I knew it was over now. He had done what I hadn't been able to, had ravaged my heart, and as I tried to call on my healing power, I realised with a sickening feeling that it wasn't working. I was dying. Only another mutant with healing power could save me now; Constantine wasn't likely to do so, and Wolverine was nowhere near. My heartbeat was dropping erratically, and I knew I had mere minutes left. Just enough time to ensure that I took Constantine with me.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy. My body was still racked by agonising pain, and I could hardly move a muscle. Constantine had dropped me like a wet rag on to the pavement, and I glanced over in dread to try and see what he was going to do next. He was using his power to pull towards him the jagged metal pole he had used as a weapon earlier. It soared through the air to him, and he grabbed it in one fist, raising it over me in preparation to drive it down into my face.

"You fool," he snarled in hatred. "Did you really think you could defeat a god alone?"

I tried to speak, but only blood would come up, bubbling between my lips, as I felt my vision dimming, my last view of Constantine swimming about unsteadily.

"He's not alone!" another voice screamed.

Chloe. 

I twisted, tried to see her, but couldn't. 

"He's not alone," she repeated. "And you're not a god!"

Constantine had obviously turned his attention to her, as he lowered the metal spear to his side, and gave a mocking laugh, "I don't think you're in a position to dictate anything to me."

__

Chloe!_ Run,_ I telepathed in desperation, _you can't face him. Get away from here, find the Professor. I'm finished._

"I'll never leave you," I heard her reply.

"Very touching," Constantine jeered. "But ultimately meaningless. You're mine now. When Oculus is dead – which won't be long now – I'm going to make you into my little slave. You will exist for no other purpose than to please me, and whenever I torture you – which will be often – you will thank me for it. I will take as much pleasure as I wish out of you, and then, when I tire of it, I will discard you. You're not worth anything, after all."

It was this last comment that finally ignited the anger that had been brewing inside me. The suggestion that Chloe – my love, my whole life, my reason for existing – was worth nothing, was the final spark that set off the eruption within me. Fury, rage of a level I had never felt before, supernova-ed in my blood, and I entered a berserk state of such intensity that I nearly ripped myself apart.

"You…die…" I spat, forcing words through my blood-covered lips, as I raised both of my broken arms to use my telekinesis.

Gripping Constantine's body with my mind, I threw him against the brick wall, causing minimal damage to his body, but that wasn't what I had intended. Using my left hand to keep him entirely still, I moved my right hand to focus my power on the jagged metal pole that had been jarred from his grasp. I raised it into the air, turned it to point directly at his chest, then drove it into him with every last drop of berserk anger in my soul. Constantine gasped, feeling no pain, as the spear plunged into his chest, broke through his ribs, splattered into his heart, and drove straight through him into the wall. I relaxed my power. Impaled to the wall, he threw up blood, pulled weakly at the pole in his chest, tried to heal himself, and threw once last hate-filled look in my direction.

Then Constantine Matthews, aka Invincibilus, died. He had failed to live up to either of his names, being neither constant nor invincible. This thought struck me as strangely amusing, and I gave a choking laugh as I began to go delirious through loss of blood. My adrenaline rush dissipated, my body weakening once more, and I slumped to the floor, unable to move any more. My last fight was over. I had saved the world from Constantine. It had taken my own life to do it, but that was of little importance really. Perhaps nobody would know the importance of what I had done, but that didn't really matter either. Chloe would know, and that was what I really cared about.

Chloe. The baby. I felt an intense sorrow as I realised I would never see my daughter's birth, would never cradle her in my arms, would never hear her first word, would never watch her grow up, would never be able to teach her to use her powers to help others, as I had. Perhaps it was just as well. Perhaps Rosiçkys didn't make very good fathers. At least I knew that my child could live in safety in a world that wasn't ruled by Constantine. I knew Chloe could teach her about good and evil, and how to use her powers properly, far better than I could. Thus I knew at least one piece of good would come out of my sacrifice. 

Chloe was kneeling over me, her face swimming in and out of my vision, and I tried to smile. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Dying with Chloe's face in front of me was not so bad. She was in tears, horrified by the extent of my injuries, taking me in her arms, and she was saying something. For a moment I struggled to make it out, then I knew it was.

"Heal! Heal yourself!" she said desperately. "What's the matter; why don't you heal?"

__

I can't.

Tears burst from her eyes, and she sobbed, "I can't lose you! Neil, you can't die! Neil?"

__

Chloe.

I could no longer see her.

"Neil!"

__

Chloe…I love you…

"NEIL!!"

Then I fell into darkness.

I opened my eyes. My body was encased in a wonderful warm feeling. The most beautiful face imaginable was in front of me, smiling at me. I was dead. This must be heaven. This face looking at me had to be an angel. Her hand reached out to caress my face, and I felt a smile crossing my lips. I was in heaven. Was this the reward for the sacrifice I had made?

The angel smiled in return, and she came closer, her lips meeting mine in a perfect kiss. She was so beautiful, I could hardly believe she was real. She looked something like Chloe, in fact. Actually, she looked a lot like Chloe. Then, as I thought about it some more, I realised she looked _exactly_ like Chloe. My logical mind kicked in, and came to one conclusion: she was Chloe. Which meant…I wasn't dead. But I knew I _was _dead. Maybe all angels looked like Chloe. Maybe they appeared as the most beautiful thing I could imagine. 

"Is this heaven?" I heard myself asking.

"Only when you're here," she replied, and leaned close to give me another kiss.

I was slightly puzzled by that response. It was something the real Chloe would say, but she wasn't here. She was still alive. And I wasn't. But if this was heaven, why was this angel kissing me?

Without warning, my telepathic senses returned to me, and I could sense the angel's mind. Then I knew I wasn't dead.

"Chloe," I whispered, pulling her towards me, kissing her lovingly.

I wasn't in heaven, but she was still an angel to me. The real Chloe. When we drew apart, I felt a small smile appearing on my lips, and I said, "I don't understand. I'm dead."

"You're not dead," she smiled.

"But…how? I…I don't understand. My heart was damaged; I couldn't heal."

"You're not the only one with a healing power."

"Yeah, but Constantine's…"

Chloe took my hand, and gently placed it against her abdomen, "I didn't mean him."

It was then that I remembered. The baby. My daughter could heal. She had inherited the power from me, and had used it once before. I had completely forgotten. When Chloe had knelt by me, and desperately taken hold of my body, our unborn daughter had sensed my injuries, and had instinctively used her power.

I wasn't dead.

I felt like simultaneously laughing and crying out of pure joy. I pulled Chloe down on to the road beside me, and kissed her fully, allowing my relief, joy and love to flow into her. The warm, heavenly-cloud feeling that was still over me…I knew what that had to be: the aftermath of my daughter's healing. I had never experienced it like this when healing myself…it was an incredible feeling. It was like pure undiluted love. No wonder Felicity had fallen in love with me after I had used it on her.

The feeling began to fade as the curative started to dissipate in my blood, and I returned to the real world. Chloe helped me to my feet, and as I stood, I heard a great cheer going up from the crowd. They'd seen me defeat Constantine, and they too had thought I was dead. I raised a hand and gave them a sort of wave, too caught up in my joy and elation to give a more elaborate response, and the volume of the cheering grew. Cameras began flashing as Chloe put her arms around me, and I could see some of the hostage children, now safely in the arms of their parents, clapping and cheering their rescuer.

Felicity was with us now, and Chris, the latter limping along unaided, refusing to be helped despite his injuries. A huge grin lit up his face, and the two of us embraced like brothers, my healing power passing into his body and mending the injuries he had sustained. Then Fliss put an arm around him and Chloe took my hand, and the four of us were together, together and still alive. Despite everything Constantine had thrown at us, love and true friendship had conquered in the end. I knew I would never love anybody as much I loved these three people now.

Well, except my children. I could feel my daughter's presence, and I thanked her for what she had done. She responded with happy feelings as she sensed my message, and I reciprocated, sending her all the love I had. The tiny mind was overjoyed, and spontaneously pushed out her feelings to all four of us. Fliss gave a delighted gasp as she felt it; Chris stared at Chloe in shock; Chloe simply squeezed my hand as the two of us drew together for another kiss.

Whatever the future might hold, I knew we could now face it with hope and joy instead of fear. Constantine was gone, and with my father's work destroyed, no artificially created mutant could ever rise to take his place. The future was our own, whatever we chose to make it. The world was my own, mine to serve and mine to protect, to always use my power to save life instead of endangering it, to eradicate any evil that tried to extinguish good. I knew now that good could and would conquer evil, as I had conquered Constantine, and as long as those who were good fought hard enough, those who were evil could never win. I held the world in the palm of my hand; I was its guardian. One day Another would come, who would eradicate all evil forever, but until then I would do the best I could to prepare for Him. I smiled as the tiny mind stirred once more inside Chloe, the mind I had brought into the world, the little miracle whose birth was only nine short months away: my daughter, my heir, the heir to everything that was mine. Heir to the world.

The End


	13. Epilogue: Progeny

Epilogue: Progeny

I stared blankly into the face of the most powerful mutant in the world. He stared right back at me, and yawned when I did. I turned away from the mirror, and downed my tenth or eleventh cup of disgusting, stale hospital coffee. What _did_ they make this stuff out of? I tried not to imagine. I needed the caffeine. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I looked over as the nurse began to shout, "Mr Rosiçky! It's coming this time, it really is!"

You've said that three times already, I thought, nonetheless hurrying over towards the bed.

"It's coming this time," she repeated.

"Chloe?" I said.

She gasped, and looked up at me, nodding her head. My tiredness vanished and my heart began to beat with excitement – excitement and wonder. Chloe clutched my hand and I winced at her scream of pain. Neither of us had slept properly in the last 48 hours, but our fatigue was gone now. After so many months of waiting, after so many hours in labour, our child was minutes away from being born.

I had promised myself that I would never inflict pain on Chloe again, and it was with a twinge of guilt that I endured the loudest scream she had given yet, as her hand tightened painfully around mine.

"It's coming!"

"Push, Mrs Rosiçky!"

Chloe's grip nearly crushed my hand as the next contraction came, and I pushed out with my telepathy, trying to ease her pain. She was breathing hard, her heart rate was sky-rocketing, and suddenly a terrible thought struck me. My own mother had died in childbirth…her pulse rate had been too high, and her heart had stopped working…what if the same thing happened to Chloe?

"It's a girl!" one of the nurses cried.

My fears were immediately vanquished by the next sound I heard: it was the high-pitched wailing of the baby that had just been born. Chloe gasped with joy and relief, and I gave her hand a tiny squeeze, leaning over to kiss her. She had survived. This Mrs Rosiçky was destined to see her child's life.

It was around Christmas time that we had got married. It had been a small, quiet affair, just the two of us with Chris and Felicity as witnesses. We had wanted it that way. It had been the happiest moment of my entire life…until now, that was.

"Uh, Mr Rosiçky?" said one of the nurses, nervous and uncertain.

"Yes?"

"Your baby…your daughter is a mutant."

As the nurse passed me the tiny baby, wrapped in a hospital blanket, I knew a wonder and an awed elation that I would never feel again. My first child; my first heir. The world had a new Rosiçky. Presently she opened her eyes and stared up at me. She had gold-pupilled eyes, just like mine. Another trait, another gift she had inherited from me.

"Mr Rosiçky? Did you hear me? I said your daughter is a mutant."

"Yes, I know. Thank you," I said, then I smiled, "Chloe, I'm afraid there's a challenger to your position as most beautiful girl in the world."

"Let me see her," Chloe said, holding out her hands.

Gently, and ever so carefully, I placed the little miracle in her arms, and knelt beside the bed. Chloe's eyes brimmed with tears and her smile was the happiest I had ever seen, as she held our daughter in her arms. She looked up at me, a happy tear rolling down her cheek, and we kissed once more.

"Nothing we've ever done has been important than this," she said, her voice choked with emotion. "Stopping Constantine, saving each other's lives, none of it can compare with what we've done today."

I felt the same, knew she was right, and just nodded.

I had dozed on and off afterwards, and had kept no track of time, but I knew it was some time later in the day; the three of us were alone in one of the hospital rooms: Chloe sleeping, resting after her ordeal; me lovingly cradling the new arrival. The baby was awake, her mind active, and I could almost communicate ideas with her. Being a telepath meant her mind and senses were more developed than a normal human baby's would be. She already knew who I was, and who Chloe was, and could identify who was holding her. She tended to get upset and scream when it wasn't one of her parents. 

She also seemed to have learned that I was telepathic but Chloe wasn't. She communicated with my mind, and expected responses, but seemed to know she wasn't going to get any from her mother. It was amazing, it was incredible, it was…all far too much for me to take in right away. This little bundle of creation had saved my life before she was even born – I knew right away that she was not going to be anything like an ordinary child. But that didn't matter, because neither Chloe nor myself had been ordinary children either.

The baby opened her eyes and looked up at me. Matching blue irises and gold pupils met. I knew this baby was no mutant; she was nothing more or less than her parents' daughter. She had gold eyes because I did, she had telepathy and healing power because I did. There was nothing in her genes that did not belong to either Chloe or myself, no mutations whatsoever. Yet despite this she would be called a mutant, branded as one, when she was nothing of the kind. I sighed. It was a strange and crazy world in which we lived.

Chloe woke up to feed the baby, and I dozed off again. When I next awoke, the sun shining through the window told me it had to be some time the next day. It wasn't long before the new family had our first visitors: Chris and Felicity, the latter almost dancing with desire to see the baby. As they entered the room together, I felt a small pang of regret that it had never worked out between them. I still felt a tiny bit guilty for my inadvertent part in their break-up. They loved each other, as friends, but no more than they loved Chloe or myself. There was nothing romantic between them, and I knew there never would be. Perhaps some people were just not meant for each other.

Chloe looked on a little anxiously as the baby was passed to Felicity; it was only natural for her to be maternally possessive, and reluctant to let anybody else have the baby.

"Ohhhh, she's _adorable_!" Fliss squealed, cradling the little miracle. "Oh, I just want to take her home and keep her for myself! Chloe, can I keep her?"

"No," Chloe said, a little angry even though she knew Fliss wasn't being serious.

"What's her name?" Chris asked.

"Annie," Chloe and I said together.

"We agreed on that name because it's similar to my mother's," I said.

"It's a nice name," said Fliss, smiling down at the tiny Rosiçky. "Hi, Annie. I'm your Auntie Fliss!"

Annie didn't appear to like this, and she started squirming and wailing, unhappy at being held by somebody who wasn't one of her parents.

"Fliss, I think you should give the baby back to Chloe now."

Chloe relaxed as the precious bundle was returned to her. Annie quietened, and Fliss said, "On second thought, I think I only like babies when they're being happy. It's always a relief to be able to hand them back to their parents when they start yelling."

"Congratulations, I suppose," Chris grinned, extending his hand for me to shake, then leaning down to give Chloe a peck on the cheek. "Oh, by the way, the Professor called the house last night, to wish you luck. He said he was willing to wait a few years before putting either of you back on the active duty list."

Chloe and I smiled. The four of us were full X-Men now, and fully committed to the cause, though Chloe and I had both had to temporarily resign for obvious reasons. Raising a family was a bigger and more important responsibility than anything else could ever be, and neither of us was willing to risk our lives while we had children depending on us. Both of us had solemnly sworn that, until our children had grown up, our fight against Constantine would be our last. The world did not need us right now anyway. It had other protectors for the present.

And for the future…who knew? The future was unwritten; anything could happen. There was nothing anybody could do to predict it. Chloe was holding part of the future in her arms right now, our future, little Annie. The future could not be predicted, but the future could be controlled. I had controlled it and shaped it when I had killed Constantine, making it a better and safer future for everyone, but nobody more so than my own child. She was my whole world now, she and her mother. I had given everything I had, including my life, for their future, and Annie had given it back to me. I knew the world wouldn't be mine forever; one day it would pass to its heir, to Annie, to serve and protect.

I leaned down, kissed my child lightly on her forehead, and said in a voice too low for anybody else to hear, "Protect it well."

A/N: and that is the end of Neil's story. Please leave a review to tell me what you think!

A/N: I've really enjoyed writing this trilogy; it's been an astonishing journey for me, and I hope you've enjoyed it too. Some of you have been with me since the very beginning, and your feedback has motivated me to keep going. Thanks to everyone who has left a review to any of these three stories; thank you for your time and the best of luck with your own stories!

A/N: Neil, Chloe and Annie will return, most likely some time in the future when she is a teenager and possibly has a little brother! Until then…


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